Three Black Roses
by NovaCaine9923
Summary: When the child of an old friend vanishes, Kieran Valentine is swept up in another mystery as he tries to find himself as well. However, he finds much more than he expected. THE SIXTH STORY
1. Chapter 1

Summary: When the child of an old friend vanishes, Kieran Valentine is swept up in another mystery as he tries to find himself as well. However, he finds much more than he expected. THE SEVENTH STORY

 **Hello, readers! If this is your first time reading a story in my series, then you may want to get caught up before you begin reading this. However, this is just a suggestion and not a requirement.**

 **Also—I'd just like to say in advance that there will be Mpreg (male pregnancy) in this story. It will be a bit later on, but if this bothers you…well, I don't really know what to say except…sorry!**

 **On to the story!**

Three Black Roses

A Monster High fanfiction by Nova Caine

 _Prologue:_

 _1,612 years earlier_

The road was a smoky ribbon of moonlight, stretching over the brow of the hill as the people in the nearby village locked their doors for the night. When every door had been closed tightly and every candle had been smothered, a vampire woman peeked out from the heather. Her dirty blond hair hung from her head as she looked around and turned behind her.

"Rowena!" she whispered harshly. "The humans have locked themselves away. The market will be opening soon—hurry!"

Her sister, a smaller vampire with brown hair, emerged from the tangle of branches. "Calm yourself, Merrill. The market will still be open until sunrise!"

"I do realize that," Merrill frowned as she yanked her sister by the arm. "But you know how crowded it can be on days such as these. Now, do you have the pieces?"

Rowena reached into the pocket of her tunic and pulled out shiny, smooth pieces she'd collected from a destroyed ship. "I have 'em right here! How much do you think they are worth?"

"At least ten gold pieces! That should be enough to buy bread and our daily blood. Now, let us go!"

The sisters grabbed their carefully weaved wicker baskets and went on their way, trudging down the road in just their bare feet.

When they arrived at the Night market (a market created just for vampires), they discovered that the shopkeepers had just opened their stands and other vampires were slowly beginning to trickle in. As her sister went to look at scarves and tunics, Rowena ventured over to the exchange stand and dropped the broken pieces before the shop owner.

"How much will you give for these?" she asked eagerly, wringing her hands.

The owner picked up a piece and looked it over. After a few minutes, he concluded, "I'll give you about five gold for the whole set,"

"Five!?" Rowena exclaimed in outrage. "They are worth at least ten!"

Displeased, the owner simply shoved the tiny bag of gold in her direction. "Ungrateful strumpet! Take your gold or leave it! We all must stay alive, dear!"

With a huff, Rowena snatched the gold and stormed away.

She met up with her sister, and the two were able to purchase two small cups of blood and a loaf of bread that they split in half. This was a smaller amount than they were used to, but they were simply content with the fact that they purchased food after all.

As they sat upon some large stones nearby to eat their rations, a tomato rolled across the ground and stopped to rest right near the sisters' feet, gently nudging Merrill's ankle.

"Hello—what is this?" Merrill picked up the tomato and looked it over with a raised eyebrow. She looked up to see a vampire toddler standing a few feet away with a basket of tomatoes.

Rowena gasped at the sight of the child. "Ooh, a little one!" she got up and approached the child, kneeling down and looking into the red eyes of the somber little urchin. "Hello there! Where is your mother?"

At this moment, a shrill voice broke the quiet. "There you are!" the sisters looked up to see another vampire woman walking quickly but carefully as she was holding the hand of another child and had a mysterious looking bag draped across her shoulder. "Eris, dear, don't wander off again—and _don't_ bruise my tomatoes!"

"Sonata!" Merrill exclaimed in surprise. "Whatever are you doing here? I thought you and Benjamin were living in the mountains!"

Sonata pulled gently on Eris' hand, ushering her closer. "Well, we were, but my dear Benjamin had some business to attend to," her golden eyes shifted to each sister, and a small smile worked its way to her lips. "Are your husbands not with you?"

Rowena nodded. "They are on a hunting trip in the Rose valley, and they will be bringing back food and lots of riches for us! Why?"

Sonata simply chuckled, gingerly removing the bag from her shoulder. "Well, I have a proposition for you, dears,"

Merrill quirked an eyebrow. "Oh, really? What have you got in that bag there?"

"Well, it could be a parrot from the East," Sonata held the bag close to her chest. "It could be a monkey from the Indies, but no," she opened the bag, revealing two newborn infants. "There are two—two vampire babes!"

Both sisters gasped in unison. "Babies!?" Rowena exclaimed, leaning in for a closer look. "Where did you get those? Are they yours?"

"Goodness, no!" Sonata shook her head. "After Eris and Dodilyne, I promised myself that I would have no more babes! They are too difficult, but—Dodilyne! Do not chew your nails!" she swatted the child's hand away from her teeth. "Oh, anyhow, I think you should take the babies,"

Merrill and Rowena exchanged nervous glances and fell silent. Finally, Merrill spoke up. "Where did you get them, Sonata?"

"Their dear mother died during childbirth," Sonata sighed, shaking her head. "And their heathen of a father ran for the forest after the fact! Poorest babes. And I understand that both of you have been barren for many years, so consider them a gift!" she handed them the bag. "They are a boy and a girl! Take them,"

With that, she gathered both her daughters and headed back towards the market, leaving the sisters with the orphaned infants.

 _Present day_

Chapter one: School time

The clock's hands were moving painfully slow.

Valentine tapped his pencil nervously as the professor drawled on and on about the theories of medicine and stopped occasionally to blow his nose. Some of the other students had fallen asleep, and the harpy woman beside Valentine had become so bored with the lesson that was now downloading photographs of elephants on to her laptop (something she'd been doing for the past ten minutes).

As the professor was wrapping up the lesson, Valentine felt his iCoffin buzz. He waited until the professor had his back turned, and he quickly looked down to see the message. It was from Deuce.

" _You almost done with classes?"_

"That concludes the lesson!" the professor's voice boomed, startling Valentine terribly. "Read pages four hundred through four hundred and ten to read about theories of medicine! Dismissed!"

As the class filed out of the lecture hall, Valentine quickly texted back.

" _I just finished. Are we still on for lunch today?"_

Deuce responded almost instantly.

" _We are, but I need to talk to you._ "

" _What about?_ "

" _I think it's better if I tell you when we meet up. Love you."_

" _love you, too"_

Since all his classes ended at noon, Valentine had arranged to meet Deuce at a local café for lunch. They met up quite often and went on nice dates together, but nothing sexual had happened since a month earlier.

Valentine felt his face heat up as he remembered. They had been sitting in Valentine's car nearby the beach, looking out on the water, when things got a little 'frisky' in the back. _Really_ frisky, actually, and Valentine had to quickly push the thought out of his mind.

He opened up his umbrella to protect him from the sun's rays as he walked to his car, his laptop and books clutched in his free hand.

Elsewhere, a group of children at Skelementary School filed into their cafeteria to begin their lunch. As they all arranged themselves into the lunch line, young Valentina wrinkled her nose at the baloney lying in what the lunch ladies called 'the meat chamber'.

"Eww, what's this?" Valentina gagged in disgust and waved it in the face of Icer Burns, her best friend. "Is this a cross-section of a dachshund?"

"Yuck!" Icer slapped the meat away. "Don't be gross!" he took the lunch meat and tossed it back in the chamber. There was a pause, and the two friends began to giggle.

"Don't hold up the line!" a lunch lady snapped suddenly, and the two quickly resumed their places.

After they'd gotten their lunch, they sat down at the table with the other children: Dodger, Anne Marie, and Tigerclaw. The five began to consume their lunch, chatting and making their usual jokes as they did so.

Everything was going fine, until Anne Marie accidently spilled her juice. "Uh oh!" she got up quickly. "I'll be right back—I have to get a napkin!"

As she headed for the napkins, the children carried on with their conversations. "How's your baby brother?" Icer asked Valentina. "My mom said he didn't feel well,"

"Charlie had colic," Valentina explained, sipping her milk. "My dad says that's when a baby's stomach hurts and they cry a lot, and he said that I had it once, too. Charlie's okay, now, because grandma took him to the doctor and they gave him special milk that makes him not cry so much,"

Before she could continue, Tigerclaw noticed something over by the napkin dispenser. "Oh, no!" he pointed to where he was looking, outraged. "Sarah and Victoria are picking on Anne Marie!"

Sarah and Victoria were the notorious school bullies. Sarah was a small but tough werecat, while Victoria was a tall, slender vampire. Neither of them liked Anne Marie, and they went out of their way to pick on her. Now, they'd cornered her by the napkins and were getting right in her face.

"Hey!" Valentina stood up and marched right over to the ghouls. "Leave my sister alone!"

The bullies turned to Valentina and snickered. Victoria took a step forward, placing her hands on her hips and leaning in Valentina's face. "Oh, yeah?" Victoria grinned, showing her white fangs. "And what are you gonna do, half and half?"

"I'm gonna," Valentina took a deep breath, trying to think of a threat. "I'm gonna punch you!" she said finally curling her hand into a fist. "I'll punch you so hard you'll end up on Mars!"

At this remark, Victoria and Sarah both erupted into laughter. "Mars!?" Sarah shrieked out a laugh. "I knew you were stupid, but that's just crazy!"

Tears began to well up in Valentina's eyes, and she looked away. Victoria noticed this and got her by the chin, turning her face towards hers. "What's wrong?" cooed Victoria, batting her eyelashes. "Are you sad? You gonna cry?" when Valentina stayed silent, Victoria pulled her hand away. "You know what I heard? I heard that your parents didn't even want you! That they were forced to have you! You shouldn't even be here,"

This was all Valentina could take, and she lashed out and punched Victoria straight in the nose. Victoria staggered backwards in alarm, touching her nose and seeing blood. "Why—you-you-!" she burst into tears, gathering napkins and pressing them to her face.

Sarah's mouth hung open as she glanced from Valentina to Victoria, and then back to Valentina. "I'm telling!" she announced finally, stalking away and alerting the lunch monitor.

Before Valentina could head back to her table, she and Victoria were both snatched up by the lunch monitor and whisked away to the principal's office.

 **Hello again, friends! So, here it is—the newest story! I hope you're enjoying it so far! It starts off kind of slow, but I can promise that it will get MUCH more interesting.**

 **What do you think of it so far? Do you like it? Are you looking forward to the rest and are you ready to learn more? Let me know in your review!**

 **Until next time, my monsters!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Meetings

The café was rather quiet for a Friday afternoon as Valentine entered and began to search for Deuce. After a few minutes, he spotted him by the window with a cup of coffee and a basket of assorted bread.

"There you are!" Valentine exclaimed, rushing over and taking the empty seat. "How's it going?"

Deuce chewed on his lip a little. "Well...see, that's what I wanted to talk about,"

Valentine became concerned. "Is everything all right?"

Before Deuce could answer, a waitress came sweeping in. After the two had placed their orders, Deuce explained.

"So, remember how I said Cleo left me?"

"Yes," Valentine nodded. "That was a few weeks ago,"

Deuce took a deep breath. "Well, you see...I wasn't exactly...truthful,"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that- see, Cleo got into this huge argument with her father, and she became so stressed out that she packed up her things and hopped on a plane for Tokyo. That's where she's been these few weeks- Tokyo," when Valentine remained silent, Deuce continued. "I've been taking care of the girls since then, and everything's been great. But, I know Cleo will be coming back eventually, though she hasn't texted me at all. I think she had some kind of breakdown,"

Valentine silently tried to comprehend all this. "But..." He began. "You mean...you're still together?"

Deuce gnawed on his bread absentmindedly. "Technically, yes,"

"Oh,"

There was a pause, and Deuce touched Valentine's hand softly. "So, what I wanted to tell you was...I think we should stop seeing each other for a short time. I need to make sure Cleo's all right, and then I'm going to see if I can't work things out with her,"

Valentine suddenly became upset. "You lied to me! You told me that you and Cleo were over!"

"I never said that!" Deuce retorted. "Stop making stuff up!" When Valentine turned away and didn't look at him, Deuce sighed. "Okay...sorry. I'm sorry, but I've been trying so hard!"

Valentine turned back and rested his chin in his hand. "I know you have. And I'm sorry I got so upset, but you said..."

"I know what I said, and I'm sorry," Deuce took Valentine's hand in his own and squeezed it gently. "Will you be okay?"

Valentine nodded. "I...I think so,"

Deuce smiled at him, leaning forward and planting a little kiss on his cheek. Valentine kissed him back, but couldn't push back the cold feeling welling up in his chest.

After lunch, Valentine returned home and was greeted by his mother right away. "How were classes?" She inquired, giving him a hug.

"They were fine," he nodded, smiling and pushing past her gently. "How's Charlie?"

"He did fine," Vampira nodded. "That new formula is working splendidly!"

Valentine walked into the living room, leaning down to look in the bassinet where his newborn son lay sleeping. "Hello, Charlie," he cooed warmly, caressing the baby's cheek. "Did you have a nice day?"

Charlie opened his eyes, squeaked out a yawn, and fell back asleep. As Valentine rose back up, Vampira let out a sigh. "I tried to call Naomi again, but she still won't answer,"

"That's okay," Valentine shrugged sadly. "She stopped caring about Charlie after the cord was cut. Nothing can change her mind, now," a certain smell wafted by, and Valentine wrinkled his nose. "What's that smell?"

"I'm preparing some chicken salad for dinner. You like that, don't you?"

Valentine gagged. "I do, but it smells terrible! What is that- mayonnaise?!"

Vampira was surprised to hear this. "It's the same as it always is! It's never bothered you before,"

"Well, the smell's getting to me! You used the regular stuff, right?"

Vampira nodded. "Yes, but- actually, Kieran, I probably should have mentioned earlier that the Skelementary school Principal called. You're needed for an emergency parent-teacher conference,"

"What happened!?"

"I don't know. Maybe you should head out so the chicken salad doesn't keep bothering you,"

Valentine rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine. Be right back,"

He arrived at the Skelementary school moments later and headed straight for the office. When he entered, he saw his younger daughter, Valentina, sitting at the table across from a taller vampire girl. Standing beside the table was the principal, a small wererabbit who went by the name of Mr. O'Hare.

Mr. O'Hare looked up when Valentine entered. "Hello, Kieran," he greeted, his nose twitching. "Take a seat, please,"

Valentine sat down beside his daughter, and when he noticed she was upset, he put an arm around her. "Everything all right?" Valentina just scowled at Victoria, who tried not to notice her by layering on more eyeshadow and sniffling.

Just then, the door opened, and a voice was heard. "Hi, sorry I'm late,"

Valentine looked up, and he was suddenly hit with overwhelming surprise.

The vampire who'd just entered looked almost exactly like himself. Other than the bright blue streaks in the hair rather than red and the greenish tint to the skin, this vampire looked liked an exact copy of Valentine. It was clear that this vampire noticed the resemblance as well, and the two were locked in a moment of silence. It was very surreal, and it was as if they were staring into mirrors with different colors and clothing.

Mr. O'Hare broke the moment with his high pitched voice. "Hello, Darrien. Take a seat, please,"

Darrien's attention focused on Victoria as he took the seat beside her and gave her a look. "What'd you do this time, kiddo?"

"Nothing!" Victoria insisted. "I didn't do anything, Daddy!"

"I should hope you didn't! I'll tell ya, I'm sick of getting death threats from the parents of stupid kids you've bullied!"

"Shall we begin!?" Mr. O'Hare raised his voice, silencing Darrien. "Now, I'm afraid there was a bit of a scuffle today involving both your daughters. Valentina was defending her sister, but she took a violent approach when confronting Victoria. So, Valentine, please try to teach your daughter to be less violent. Understood?"

Valentine nodded. "Yes, sir," he mumbled a bit angrily. Mr. O'Hare had no children himself, but he seemed to be very good at telling other adults to parent their children correctly.

"And you," Mr. O'Hare gestured to Darrien. "If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times- you must do something about Victoria's behavior! If she bullies another student, she will be expelled!"

"Don't tell me how to parent my kid!" Darrien snapped, jumping out of his chair. "You'd better shut up, you worthless piece of-" he stopped when Mr. O'Hare pulled a bag of garlic out from his coat.

"Sit down, sir," Mr. O'Hare tried to sound authoritative, but his voice trembled. "Don't make me call security,"

When Darrien sat back down, Mr. O'Hare cleared his throat. "Please think about what I have said, and I'm sure these girls will never do this again. Dismissed!"

As they walked out into the foyer, Valentine tried to approach Darrien. "Hey, look- can we talk?"

"I'd love to, but I gotta leave," Darrien said quickly, grabbing Victoria by the hand. "I hope I'll see you again, though," he pushed through the glass doors, still holding on to his daughter's hand and heading towards their car.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Dinnertime

It was about 5:00.

The slick, black car pulled into the driveway of the comfortably small condo, right behind the dark green minivan.

As Valentina unbuckled her seat belt and reached for her bags, Valentine kissed her cheek.

"All right, sweet thing," he sighed. "Look- you gotta tell your mom what happened,"

Valentina began to protest. "But Dad-!"

"She has to know, Tina," he stroked her hair and kissed her again. "Okay?"

When Valentina nodded reluctantly, Valentine smiled at her. "All right, then. See you next weekend, Doll face. I love you,"

"Love you, too," Valentina murmured, slinging her bag over her shoulder and stepping out of the car. Valentine waited until she entered the house safely, and he pulled out the driveway and headed for home.

Stepping inside her mother's house, Valentina was greeted by rather loud conversation coming from the dining room. She soon realized that Clawd, her uncle, was visiting, and that there was someone else in the room as well. When she walked in, the conversation died down and all eyes turned to her.

"You're home!" Howleen exclaimed excitedly, getting out of her chair and giving her daughter a kiss. "How was your day, baby?"

It was at this moment that Valentina noticed that a family friend of theirs, Romulus, had joined them for dinner, and she used this as an opportunity to redirect the conversation. "What's Romulus doing here?"

"He just got back from his trip to the mountains," Howleen explained, ushering her daughter over to the table. "Now, sit down, and I'll check to see if the pot roast is ready,"

As Howleen disappeared into the kitchen, Romulus began to speak. "Have you gotten taller, Tina? You look bigger since I last saw you,"

Valentina nodded. "Yeah, I think so,"

"Oh, yeah? How old are you, now?"

"Ten,"

Romulus seemed surprised by this. "Really?! That old, huh?"

"Can you believe it?" Clawd grinned, gazing at his niece fondly. "I can still remember when she was born, and it doesn't seem like it was that long ago!" He turned to Dodger, who was sitting beside him, and suddenly glared at him. "Hey, what did I tell you? Put that away!"

Dodger pouted and set his little gaming device down on the table, crossing his arms and growling.

"Don't give me that look!" Clawd scolded, confiscating the device. "You'll get it back later, okay?"

Valentina looked around in confusion. "Where's aunt Draculaura? Is she here?"

"No," Dodger sighed. "She's with grandpa, and she doesn't want pot roast anyway,"

Howleen entered and began to serve the pot roast, asking, "Tina, you didn't answer me earlier. Did you have a good day?"

"W-w-well," she swallowed thickly, staring down at the chunks of beef covered in gravy that lay on her plate. "I...I..."

"She got into a fight," Dodger spoke up, a mischievous smile playing on his lips. "I saw it,"

Valentina prepared to hurl an insult at her cousin, but Howleen stopped her. "A fight!? With who?"

"Stupid Victoria- that's who!" Valentina snarled. "She was picking on Anne Marie!"

Howleen let out an exasperated sigh. "Valentina, I'm tired of you getting into trouble so much! You should have just told a teacher! I-" Howleen realized that the table had gone silent, and she shook her head. "You know what? We'll talk about this later. Let's eat, okay?"

At this same time, back at Valentine's house, Anne Marie was laying her homework down on the table so she could complete it later. Valentine stood beside her and grated some carrots into a salad when he noticed a certain paper in his daughter's homework folder.

"What's that?" He inquired, gesturing to the paper. "Is that artwork of some sort?"

Anne Marie shook her head, holding up the paper for her father to see. "No, it's my family tree homework assignment. We're supposed to write down the names of people in our family and show how they're related to us, but," she pointed to a part of the paper. "Could you help me with this?"

Valentine set down the grater and took the paper, scanning it. "What do you need help with? A name?"

"Yes," she pointed again. "Right there- where that question mark is,"

"Oh, I see," he looked a little closer. "That's..." He trailed off. "That's my father, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Anne Marie took the paper back, a look of concern on her face. "What's your dad's name?"

Valentine tried to think. "I...I think his name is Erin," he mentally flipped through his memories again. "Yes, his name was Erin,"

Anne Marie nodded, erasing the question mark and writing her grandfather's name down. "Can you tell me about him? He's not dead, is he?"

"Well..." Valentine suddenly realized that he knew practically nothing about his father. Now, just like Anne Marie, he wanted answers, too. "All I know is that he abandoned me after I was born," he explained, a bit sad. "From what I've been told, he ran off and disappeared into the forest. No one saw him again,"

Anne Marie was quiet, then she asked, "Can you ask grandma more?"

Valentine thought about this. "She doesn't really like talking about it, but maybe I could try to ask her," he stroked Anne Marie's hair and gave her a kiss. "If you need any more help, you can always ask me,"

"Okay, Papa," Anne Marie smiled, hugging him. Valentine wrapped his arms around his daughter and held her close, but he couldn't push the thought of his father out of his mind. Thus, he decided to confront his mother.

"Mom," he said, approaching her as she sat on the sofa and listened to the radio. "I want to ask you something,"

Vampira set the blanket she was knitting to the side and turned her attention to her son. "Yes, Kieran? Is everything all right?"

Valentine took the spot beside her, taking her hand. "I know you don't like to talk about this, but," he took a deep breath. "Who was my father? I mean- who was really was he?"

"W...what do you mean?" Vampira shifted around nervously on the sofa. "I've told you everything you need to know already!"

"But I would like to know more! See, Anne Marie's doing this assignment-"

"We are not talking about this!" Vampira snapped irritably, and Valentine fell silent. There was a pause, and Vampira gingerly placed her other hand on her son's. "I'm so sorry. But, this is just a topic I don't like talking about,"

Valentine looked down at his mother's hand, noticing the thin, white scar that covered the spot where her finger was missing. "You don't have to talk about it, Mom. I was just curious," he kissed her, and she smiled at him.

Meanwhile, a car pulled up to a large, decorative building. The words 'WELCOME TO DEADLY GARDENS' were sprawled out on a sign just near the gate, and the car slowed to a stop in the parking lot.

"I hope you're proud of yourself, missy," Darrien growled as Victoria unbuckled her seat belt. "One more bullied kid, and you're gonna switch schools. Is that enough of a hint for you to shut your mouth!?"

Victoria sniffled, pouting. "But I was the one who got hit!"

"I know, and I'm sorry that happened! But it happened because you wouldn't keep your goddamn mouth shut! Now, I need to punish you,"

She stamped her foot. "But I didn't do anything! Daddy, please!" Victoria leaned over and hugged her father's arm, looking up endearingly. "I love you, Daddy. Please don't punish me!" When Darrien didn't look at her, she burst into tears. "Please don't hate me, Daddy!"

Darrien could no longer stand it, and he gathered her in his arms. "I can't hate you," he murmured, kissing her. "But, you know what? If you get expelled from school, then you'll have to go to a new school where you might not know anybody and you might get bullied yourself! Now, do you want that to happen?"

Victoria shook her head and dried her eyes. "No, Daddy,"

They got out of the car and walked towards the steps leading to the basement of the building, which was where they lived. When they entered their home, Victoria scurried off to her room and Darrien went to go greet his mother, who was brewing some tea in the kitchen.

"If Victoria bullies another kid, she's gonna get expelled," Darrien sighed, caressing his temples. "I can't deal with this, Mom,"

His mother, Merrill, smiled reassuringly and handed him a cup of fresh tea. "You'll be fine, darling. It will work out, you'll see,"

As she turned around and poured herself a cup, Darrien remembered something. "Oh, Mom, I should probably mention- the father of the girl Victoria bullied was at the meeting and he...well, he looked almost exactly like me,"

Merrill froze suddenly. "He...what?"

"He was identical to me," Darrien went on to explain. "Only, his hair was red instead of blue, like mine, and he was dressed in fancy clothes. He tried to talk to me later, but I had to go to work. Actually, now that I think about it, he looked like Emileen, but a guy,"

Merrill's hands began to quiver. "E-Emileen, you say? He looked like your cousin?"

Darrien nodded. "Yeah, but..." He noticed how nervous his mother had become. "Are you okay, Mom?"

She turned and walked off suddenly. "I'm fine! I've had a long day and I need to sit!"

As she headed for the living room, her sister, Rowena, entered the kitchen. "Is your mother all right, dear?" She inquired.

"I don't think so," he answered a bit quietly, thinking over everything. "Rowena, where did Emileen get her red hair from?"

Rowena thought about this. "Someone on her father's side," she concluded finally. "I'm sure of it," she seemed a little off as well, but Darrien simply nodded.

"Okay, thank you," with that, he walked off.

 **Hello again, my readers! I hope you've been enjoying this so far. I know it's kind of slow right now, but it will get interesting soon, I promise!**

 **What are your theories so far? Do you have any ideas about what could be going on? Let me know in your review- I'm interested!**

 **Until next chapter, my monsters!**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Sonata

Valentine awoke to the same sound he had been waking up to lately- Charlie's crying. Sighing, he got out of bed and walked over to Charlie's crib, which was placed in his room, right where the trophy case for the hearts used to be. Valentine reached in and scooped the baby up, patting his back.

"Good morning, Charlie," he crooned softly, rocking him. "Are you hungry?"

When Charlie sniffled in response and began to root around, Valentine took that as a yes. "Okay, let's go,"

Moments later, Valentine found himself sitting on the couch trying to push the rubber nipple of the bottle into his son's mouth. "Come on, Charlie," he said gently, trying not to get frustrated. "Take the bottle! You need to eat," Charlie took it, finally latching on and suckling contently.

It was then that Vampira came down the stairs in her silk nightgown, her long black hair tied back into a braid. She looked different whenever she was like this, for her lack of makeup and braided hair made her seem like a different vampire.

"I just got a call from aunt Sonata," she yawned, sitting beside her son. "She's invited us for brunch at her home,"

Valentine made a face. "You said 'no', right?"

"No, I said we would come,"

"What!?" Valentine's jaw dropped. "But, mom! It's Sonata! Remember how she made Anne Marie cry last time!?"

Vampira sighed. "Kieran, I know we don't have the best relationship with Sonata, but she's had some struggles and her mind isn't what it once was. She's still my sister, and I think just showing her kindness is the best thing we can do,"

Valentine tried to argue, but he realized it was hopeless. "All right, fine. What time do we leave?"

"At nine," she answered, getting up and taking her hair of the braid. "We've got some time, still. You finish feeding Charlie,"

Much later, Vampira helped Anne Marie into a fancy party dress, much to Anne's dismay.

"Sonata called me fat last time," Anne Marie pouted as Vampira tied a bow in her hair. "Do we have to visit her?"

"We must be nice, darling," Vampira explained as she stepped back to admire how pretty her granddaughter was. "Oh, you look so beautiful! Come, now, let's get going!"

After Valentine strapped Charlie firmly into the car seat and mentally prepared himself, they were ready to leave. They didn't have to drive too far, and they soon arrived at Sonata's home.

She lived at Deadly Gardens. Deadly Gardens was a group home to rich monsters of all kinds, but its popularity had plummeted over the years and it was home to mostly rich vampires and a few normies (who were servants to the vampires). After Sonata suffered a nervous breakdown due to the death of her daughter, Eris, her other daughter Dodi sent her to live at the group home when she was released from the hospital. Upon moving in, Sonata established her dominance right away and began to sort of 'run' the place. She had servants, now, as well as a male vampire named Fritz who just seemed to hang around her. No one seemed to know why he was there, but Valentine could only infer that Sonata and Fritz were in some kind of sexual relationship.

Sonata had three normie servants, all of which she'd "taken under her wing" (as she proudly told everyone who asked about her human companions). There was Fran, a friendly seventeen year old maid who'd just joined the year before. Her appearance was rather creepy for a normie, since she had huge eyes and a very thin face, but her spunk and playful nature seemed to make up for this. Then, there was Raymond, and like Fritz, nobody seemed to know what he was there for. All Vampira knew was that whenever she called Sonata, Raymond would always answer first as if he were some kind of secretary, so that seemed to be his only job. He looked like he'd been handsome once, but his forty year old body was so worn down that his dark eyes were a bit sunken in and his hair was usually a mess. He was nice, but being around him was a slightly unsettling experience. He talked to himself a lot and would sometimes just stand in a corner and shiver for no reason (when Valentine tried to ask Raymond why he did this, Raymond didn't seem to know what he was talking about).

And finally, there was the gem of the bunch: Jeffery. Jeffery was twenty years old, with shaggy black hair and an eyebrow piercing that looked infected. He wrote the same sweatshirt everyday and never spoke, but Valentine always felt uncomfortable around him whenever he would stare at Anne Marie for a bit too long and just smile. Jeffery seemed to be some kind of janitor, for he always held a mop in one hand and a bucket in the other. Valentine sometimes wondered if he was a vampire, but he didn't seem to have fangs of any kind.

As Vampira entered with her son and grandchildren, they were greeted by Fran. "Hello, you guys!" Fran grinned, holding up a metal tray with a collection of sweets. "Would you like some cinnamon rolls? They're fresh!"

Anne Marie, who was very fond of Fran, gratefully took a roll. "Thank you, Fran!"

Fran smiled, turning to Valentine. "Would you like one?"

"Oh, sure," he took one while inquiring, "Is Sonata in her room?"

"Yes, she is, and she's waiting for you. Best you get up there!"

After a trip in the rickety elevator, the little family of vampires arrived at Sonata's room. When Vampira knocked, her sister's shrill voice called from within.

"Come in! I've been expecting you,"

They entered, seeing Sonata sitting at her breakfast table with a puff of smoke wafting from the pipe that hung from her lipstick caked mouth. "Hello, my darling family!" She grinned, removing the pipe from her mouth and standing up. Sonata greeted Vampira with a hug and a kiss on the lips (this wasn't surprising, as Sonata greeted just about everyone like this), and then greeted Valentine and Anne Marie the same way. "I'm so glad you could come, and it's wonderful to see the baby!" She pinched Charlie's cheek gently and giggled when he squeaked unappreciatively. "So lovely. Kieran, he looks just like you!"

She ushered them quickly to the table, gesturing to the array of pastries and fancy little drinks. "Come! Help yourselves," as they began to collect food, Sonata turned her attention to Anne Marie. "Why, Anne, dear! You look so darling in that dress!"

Anne Marie blushed a bit, but she avoided eye contact. "Thank you," she murmured, but Sonata didn't stop there.

"Have you ever considered wearing makeup, sweetheart? Your lips are so cracked and those circles under your eyes...ugh! Don't even get me started!"

Anne Marie tried to hold in her anger at this remark, but her attempt was unsuccessful as her hand began to shake violently with rage. Her fruit juice splashed out of the glass and on her dress, leaving a stain.

"Oh, dear!" Vampira stood up quickly, helping Anne stand up. "That's unsightly. I'm just going to clean her up, and I'll be back soon,"

As she left, Sonata chuckled. "All right, we'll be waiting for you!" She turned back and noticed the look on her nephew's face. "What?"

"Have you always been like this!?" Valentine scolded in a bit of a louder voice than he'd intended. "Makeup!? She's ten years old!"

Sonata batted her eyelashes innocently. "Oh, but Kieran! You know how I just love to help others!"

Valentine was about to shout something, but then he remembered what his mother told him: he had to be kind. He took a deep breath and tried to think of something to say. "Well...I, uh," he suddenly thought of something he could ask. "Sonata, what do you know about my father?"

Sonata froze suddenly. "Your-your father, dear?"

"Yes," he nodded. "I just wanted to know, since all I've been told is that his name was Erin and he abandoned me the day I was born. My mom doesn't like talking about it, so I thought I could get some answers from you,"

Sonata fell silent. After a few moments, she said in a soft voice, "All I will tell you is that your father committed a serious crime against our family name, and for that, he was punished,"

Before Valentine could ask again, Vampira and Anne walked back in. Anne Marie's dress had been turned inside out, and she looked very upset. She crawled back on her chair and rested her head on her Papa's shoulder, sighing.

Sonata shook her head in dismay. "Such a pretty dress, too! Oh , well. Shall we eat?"

After finishing her meal, Anne Marie quickly grew tired of hearing Sonata tell stories, and she became antsy. Valentine noticed this, and he had an idea.

"Here," he said as he handed his daughter his iCoffin. "Take my phone and walk around, and find things to take pictures of. Does that sound fun?"

Anne Marie nodded and took the phone. Anything to avoid Sonata. As the adults kept talking, Anne Marie wandered off in search of photographs.

As she traveled down the long hallway, she first happened upon a stuffed toy. It was a peculiar little toy- a little man with long, slender arms and legs, but with no face. Anne Marie picked up the toy and examined it, taking note of the tag that simply read, "ALWAYS WATCHING". After a moment, she shrugged and set it back down, taking a quick snapshot of the toy with the phone. She continued on after this, and she came across another toy. This time, it was a porcelain doll, with a silky purple gown and a little tiara atop a small head of lovely red hair. Anne Marie grinned when she saw it.

"Oh, you're pretty!" She told the doll gently, scooping her up. "I think I found your friend, but hang on," she took the doll's picture, and she carried it to the other toy. "Is he your friend? He has a suit, so I just thought-" Anne Marie stopped when she realized that the faceless man was gone. Confused, she sat the doll on the floor and looked around. "All right, little man! Where are you hiding?" She soon spotted him again, but this time, he was lying beside a door that was slightly ajar. The door had a sticker on it that simply read, "FRAN" in childish handwriting.

Anne Marie suddenly felt very relieved. "Why, it's just Fran playing a trick!" She scooped up the little man and pushed the door open, walking in. Sure enough, Fran was in there. She sat on a footstool with her back turned to Anne Marie, and her eyes were fixed on the TV in front of her. "Hey, Fran!" Anne Marie called out, the toy still clutched in her hand. "Is this yours?"

When Fran didn't answer, Anne Marie became concerned. "Fran?" She came a little closer. "Fran, are you okay?" Anne Marie looked at the TV, seeing that a news report about a deadly car crash was on. "Is something wrong, Fran?" She finally looked up at Fran's face, and she jumped in surprise. Fran was crying, but she wasn't crying regular tears- she was crying blood. The blood streamed down her face from her large eyes, and she began to murmur something.

"I don't live in darkness," Fran mumbled. "Darkness lives in me,"

"What?" Anne asked, coming a little closer.

Fran began to wring her hands, and her breathing became shallow. "The scariest monsters are the ones that lurk within our souls. Edgar Allen Poe spoke these words, and they are true. I saw the creatures in my soul, and I hate them. Every time I try to rid myself of them, they come back. I am never free,"

This upset Anne Marie so much that she began to cry. "Fran, please stop!" She dropped the toy and crawled on Fran's lap. "You're scaring me, Fran!"

Fran jumped suddenly, shoving Anne Marie off of her. "Anne, what are you doing?!" She felt the blood on her face, and she wiped it off. "What was I doing just now?"

Anne Marie sniffled. "Y-you were talking about your darkness and monsters, and your eyes were bleeding!"

Fran fell silent, and she sighed. "If I do that again, do not go near me," she hugged her arms and shuddered. "I don't trust myself," she noticed the toy, and her brow furrowed. "What is that?"

"I f-found it," Anne Marie explained, wiping at her eyes.

"Well, put it back where you found it," Fran sighed, handing her the toy. "After what happened to Rowan, I don't want people touching this thing. Okay?"

Anne Marie nodded and didn't ask questions, though she had so many.

About an hour later, Sonata announced that she was going to take a nap, and her guests took this as a cue to leave. As Valentine was leaving the building, he was stopped by another resident at Deadly Gardens, someone he had no idea lived there.

"Kieran!" When Valentine looked up, he was surprised to see Bram Devein coming towards him with a worried expression. "Kieran- oh, I'm so glad to see you!"

Valentine was very perplexed by this greeting. "That's something you've never said to me, Bram! I didn't know you lived here,"

Bram got straight to the point. "I need some help, Kieran. You see- Rowan, my daughter, went missing a little while ago, and I need help finding her!"

"She went missing? Well, shouldn't you get a private investigator or something to help look for her?"

"We do have a private investigator on the case," Bram explained nervously. "Her name's Vixen Love, but she's new to the job and she doesn't really seem to know what she's doing! But, your friends, they helped solve a murder, didn't they?"

Valentine thought about this. "Well...sort of, but that was back in Highschool. I don't know how legal it is now that my friends are considered adults, but..." He noticed the anxiousness in Bram's eyes, and he sighed. "I'll see what I can do, Bram."

Bram breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Kieran. I really mean that,"

As he turned and walked away, Valentine prepared to return home.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: The Third Flower

That Monday, Valentine partook in his usual routine for the day: he fed Charlie, made sure Anne Marie was awake and got her ready for school, had breakfast, dressed, got in the car and dropped off Anne Marie at school on his way to classes- all before 8 AM.

However, there seemed to be a different sort of atmosphere when he entered the lecture hall. Everyone else seemed a bit nervous as they glanced over at a girl who had just arrived. Her nose stayed buried in a fashion magazine, so Valentine couldn't get a good look at her. All he could gather was that she was some kind of vampire.

"Good morning, students!" The professor announced, drawing everyone's attention to himself. "Before we begin, I think it is only right to introduce our newest addition to the class," he gestured towards the girl, who jerked herself out of her fashion magazine. "Would you stand up and introduce yourself, miss?"

The girl was quiet, then she arose and turned to the others. Valentine suddenly felt a feeling similar to the one he felt when he saw Darrien- total, utter shock. This time, it was because this girl bore a striking resemblance to Vampira.

"Hello," she began, taking a deep breath. "My name is Emileen, and I..." She shifted awkwardly. "I don't really know what else to say. You all seem pretty cool so far," there was a pause, and she sat back down.

When she finished, the professor began the lecture. Yet, Valentine had difficulty concentrating. First Darrien, and now this girl. Was there a part of his family he just didn't know existed?

After about four hours, classes dispersed and Valentine felt an urge to pull aside Emileen and talk to her. This was no challenge, as he never had a problem striking up a conversation with anyone. Though, it proved to be a problem for Emileen, as it became quite clear that she was an introvert.

"So, how do you like classes so far?" Valentine inquired as he walked with her outside. "Are you enjoying them?"

"Can't say for certain," she muttered, not making eye contact. "Professor's all right, I guess. Did you see the harpy downloading the elephant pictures on her computer?"

Valentine nodded. "She does that a lot. I don't know her name, but I heard that she also likes collecting hair," when Emileen didn't respond, Valentine tried to engage her again. "Do you have any family around here?"

Emileen nodded. "Yeah, my mom lives in this apartment place with my aunt Merrill and my cousin Darrien,"

Upon hearing this, Valentine's heart jumped in excitement, and he mentally tried to calm himself down. "Darrien, huh? I...think I met him,"

She quirked an eyebrow. "You have?" She stopped suddenly, and her expression changed. "Actually...you look almost exactly like him!"

"Yes, I know! And you look like my mother!" He stopped when he realized how that sounded. "Oh...I'm sorry about that,"

"It's fine," Emileen mumbled, looking away. There was an awkward pause, and she looked at her watch. "I have to go, I'm meeting my mom for lunch. I'll talk to you later,"

They said their goodbyes, and Valentine prepared to return home.

Upon returning home, Valentine realized just how tired and drained he was all of the sudden. This surprised him, since he hadn't done anything particularly tiring at all that day. Nevertheless, he shook the feeling off and brewed a cup of coffee. With the coffee now in his hand, he picked up his laptop and headed to his room, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw that Charlie was still asleep.

As he sat down on the love seat in his room, he opened up his laptop and tried to decide what he should do first. He remembered his conversation with Bram a few days earlier, and he decided to give Clawd a call. Over the phone, they discussed what they could do, and the eventually came up with a plan: they'd go to Deadly Gardens that night and try to get information from Gory and Bram about their daughter. After this had been established, Clawd contacted a few other friends to see if they would like to participate as well, and Heath and Frankie were the only other two.

So, just as the sun was setting that evening, the group met at the Deadly Gardens to begin. As Clawd stepped out of his car, he silently marveled at the large home. It looked to be very old, but in excellent shape. He wondered why TVC never considered living there rather than that ancient, creaky hotel.

Valentine became concerned when he noticed somebody else emerged from Heath's car. "Oh, Heath. Don't tell me you actually brought Icer with you!"

"Hey, he wanted to come!" Heath stated defensively. "He's old enough, and he's pretty responsible. Right, kid?"

Icer smiled an excited smile up at his father, gripping his notepad tightly. "Yeah! I'm very responsible. I helped Mom do the laundry yesterday!"

Clawd gave Heath a serious look. "Heath, I don't mean to scare Icer, but one child already went missing here. I'm not sure how safe it is to just have Icer wandering around here,"

"I'll be careful!" Icer piped up. "I took martial arts last year!"

They entered the building, and Fran greeted them right away. "Why, Kieran, I didn't know you were coming! Are these your friends?"

Before Valentine could answer, Clawd stepped forward. He had a strange feeling about this girl. "Yeah, we're here to help look for a little girl who went missing,"

Fran's face fell. "A...little girl?"

Valentine nodded. "Yes, we're looking for Rowan. Gory and Bram's daughter?"

"Yes, I know her!" Fran seemed a bit nervous. "But...aren't the police looking into it?"

"I'm sure they are," Valentine answered. "But, we were asked to help,"

Just then, Bram came rushing in with Gory trailing behind. "Kieran! Oh, thank goodness you're here," he reached into the pocket of his coat and pulled out a collection of photographs. "Here are all the photographs I could find of Rowan. I thought they might help,"

Valentine looked over each photo, quietly studying them. Rowan was very small and pale, with dark hair and large red eyes. He took note of the fact that she never seemed to smile in any of these pictures.

"Could you take us to the last place you saw her?" Frankie inquired as Valentine passed the photos among the group. "Maybe there will be clues there,"

Gory and Bram exchanged a glance, and Gory nodded. "Her room is right this way,"

The two vampires led the group to their apartment, which was so fancy and elegant that it didn't even seem real. The dish of scones that sat on the kitchen counter and the fluffy poodle resting on a velvet pillow made the scene seem like something out of a magazine.

"In here," Bram muttered, opening up a door and ushering the others inside. "This is where we saw her last,"

For a child's bedroom, the room was rather neat and fancy. There was even a chandelier, which seemed rather unnecessary for a five year old to have. However, there were normal things a little girl would own- dolls, stuffed animals, a little desk, a little chair, and a container filled with crayons and colored pencils.

Upon entering, the group began to silently look over everything as Frankie started to ask questions. "So, what can you tell us about Rowan?"

As Gory and Bram exchanged yet another glance, Frankie began to feel slightly uneasy. "Well," Gory said finally. "She's five years old, and she doesn't talk,"

"She doesn't talk?" Frankie raised an eyebrow. "Is she disabled?"

"Well, she doesn't talk to us," Bram clarified. "She only started talking recently, but to her dolls,"

"Her dolls? What kind of dolls?"

"She has two," Gory explained. "One is a porcelain princess we got her for her birthday that she calls 'Clara', and the other is a..." She trailed off, and she looked away. "We don't know where she got the other doll, but it's the one she likes the most. It has no face, and ever since she brought it home with her from school, she began whispering to it and to Clara as well,"

Frankie nodded and scribbled this down on her notepad. "I see. When did you last see her?"

"Three days ago," Bram sighed, noticeably anxious. "We sent her to bed around eight, and the next morning, I checked on her and she was gone!"

"Did you call the police?" Frankie asked. Before they could answer, Clawd suddenly gasped from where he stood in the room.

"Oh, God! Look at this!" He reached into Rowan's desk, pulling out collections of drawings.

Heath seemed a bit confused. "So what? They're just drawings,"

Clawd scoffed. "Just drawings, eh? Take a look," he held up a drawing, and Heath grimaced.

The drawing, though crude and child-like, depicted a white faced creature with black hair and a torn smile leaning over a small child. Underneath the drawing were the words, " _HELP_ _ME_ " written in red colored pencil.

"What?" Icer asked, trying to look at the picture. "What is it? Can I look?"

Heath felt incredibly uneasy, and he began to wonder if leaving Icer at home was a better idea. "Kid, could you just wait out in the kitchen or something until we're done? There's a dog out there- go play with the dog, okay?"

Icer began to protest. "But dad-!"

"Please, kiddo?" Heath ruffled his son's fiery hair. "I don't want you getting nightmares,"

With a huff, Icer stalked out, irritated that his father wouldn't let him help. Icer had heard the story many times- about how his aunt Harmony died and his dad did everything he possibly could to figure out who did it. Ever since he heard the story, Icer wanted to solve mysteries, too.

Icer tried to interact with the poodle, but the poodle snapped at him and wanted to be left alone. After this rejection, Icer wandered around the flat, wrinkling his nose at how fancy everything was. Eventually, he got bored, and he walked out the door and into the hall. His dad would probably be upset that he left without saying anything, but he figured he'd be back before the group intended to leave.

As he looked up and down the hallway, he noticed a dim room to his left with an open door. It looked to just be full of tools, but as Icer got closer, he realized that they were art supplies.

"Oh!" He gasped in delight, rushing inside. "Look at it all!"

There were colored pencils, crayons, watercolor paints, brushes and pens, all unopened and unused. Excited to see all these wonderful art supplies, Icer pulled out his notepad and got a handful of colored pencils, getting on the floor and beginning to doodle. He drew dragons (his favorite creature- he desperately wanted one as a pet), birds, trees, and he had begun working on an army tank when, all of the sudden, the lightbulb that was providing the only light in the room blew.

Icer jolted in surprise when he was suddenly surrounded by darkness. He got up and looked around, his small body quivering. He turned around to see that the door was still open, and he made a move to leave. He stopped, though, for he realized that he needed to put the colored pencils back. After a moment, he located the box and dropped the pencils in one by one, hoping that he wouldn't get in trouble for using art supplies that weren't his. It was at this moment, however, that he noticed something move in the darkness beside him, and he froze. Slowly, Icer turned and looked next to him, squinting as he tried to see what was there. Soon, his ears caught the sound of heavy breathing, and he finally saw what was there: a pale-faced person with a smile carved along their face, and shaggy black hair framing the distorted smile.

"Like what you see, kid?" The figure inquired, just before letting out a wild cackle. When the person pulled out a knife, that was all the confirmation Icer needed that he had to run.

Without hesitation, Icer turned and bolted out of the small room, not looking back. He threw the door to Gory and Bram's flat open, stumbling in and reaching for his father. The moment he entered Rowan's room and saw his father, Icer let out a strangled sob and threw his arms around him, hiding his face in his jacket. Normally, he would be embarrassed to be seen cuddling his dad while crying, but he was just so shocked and scared that he didn't care.

Heath was very alarmed by this. "Whoa, kid! You okay, bud? What happened?"

Icer's cries simmered down a bit as his father held him close and patted his back. Between sobs, he managed to stammer out, "Th-there was this...this guy, and he had a knife, and-and he was trying to talk to me! His mouth was all torn up, too!"

"Icer, where did this happen!?" Valentine asked in surprise.

"In the room with the art stuff," Icer sniffled, still clinging to his dad. "Dad, I wanna leave!"

Clawd snarled a bit in annoyance. "See, Heath!? You shouldn't have brought him!"

Rather than defend his decision to bring Icer, Heath just looked away and continued to comfort his son. "I think I should take him home," he muttered finally, standing up and keeping Icer close.

At this moment, Valentine was suddenly struck with an overwhelming feeling of dizziness, and he gripped on a nearby chair to compose himself. "You know, maybe we should wrap this up and come back another time?"

Bram just nodded understandingly. "Yes, it's getting a bit late. We'll contact you soon for any updates. Thank you for all your help,"

Later that night, as Valentine was unlocking his car and preparing to leave, he felt like he was being watched. He sighed, getting in and slamming the door.

"I don't even know what's going on anymore," he sighed, starting up the car.

 **YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET IT'S DONE**

 **I would just like to apologize for my painfully long hiatus! I just got on Summer break, and procrastination has been getting the better of me. Also, happy Fourth of July! Fireworks were recently legalized where I live, so my neighbors may be keeping me up tonight...**

 **Anyway, as always, I am curious to know what your thoughts are! Do you have any theories about what might be going on? Any questions? Let me know in your review!**

 **Until next time, fellow monsters!**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Surprise!

 **Warning: the chapter you are about to read contains strong language and minor sexual content. Viewer discretion is advised.**

The events of Monday night plagued Valentine's mind for the rest of the week, and he decided to do something about it. So, that Saturday, he headed for Deadly Gardens once again to get answers out of Sonata.

He drove up to Deadly Gardens, sighing as he slowed down his car to find a parking space. After this was done, he left the car and headed for the front door, his umbrella looming above him and blocking the sun. This time, Raymond answered the door instead of Fran.

"Oh, hey Valentine," Raymond mumbled, looking up with tired eyes. He smelled faintly of marijuana smoke. "Do you need something?"

Valentine nodded. "Yeah, is Sonata available?"

Raymond shook his head. "No, she's resting. What do you need?"

"Well, it's about a little girl named Rowan DeVein," he showed Raymond a photograph. "Do you know her?"

"Oh, yeah. She went missing, right?"

"She did, and we've been looking for her. Do you know anything about her disappearance?"

"No, sorry," Raymond sighed. "But, come in, maybe Fritz will know something,"

Valentine entered, closing his umbrella as Raymond shuffled off to a separate room. As Valentine took a seat, the janitor mopping the floor down the hall caught his attention. The janitor, who was only ever referred to as 'Jeffery', hung his head as he mopped, his thick black hair hiding his face. Valentine watched him silently, feeling an odd vibe from the young man.

"I don't care!" A voice snapped, yanking Valentine out of his thoughts. "This isn't anyone's business but our own!"

Raymond's shaking, worried voice followed soon after. "I'm sorry! I won't do it again!"/div

"You'd better not!" Fritz shouted, and there was a thud. "I'll see him out, you stay quiet!"

"But-" There was a cracking sound, and a yelp from Raymond. Valentine finally decided to go see what the problem was, and he stood up to investigate.

In the other room, which was a kitchenette, Fritz stood in the center if the room with a cigarette clenched between his teeth, and Raymond lay sobbing on the floor before him.

"What's going on!?" Valentine demanded to know, kneeling down and trying to help Raymond up.

"Mr. Parker here had an accident, and now he's being a drama queen," Fritz growled, and he glared down at Raymond. "Stop fucking crying!"

Raymond shook himself out of Valentine's grip, turning away. "No, don't help me- I deserved to get hit," he insisted, walking out and hiding his face.

There was a pause, and Valentine turned to Fritz. "Have you always been like this?" Valentine asked, irritated.

Fritz simply puffed on his cigarette, his eyes narrowing. "Faggot," he hissed finally, turning away and leaving. "You Goddamn queer," with this statement, he left the room.

Valentine thought about this as he drove back home. He wondered if Raymond was only kept around to be a sort of punching bag for Fritz. He also wondered why Fritz decided to insult him completely out of the blue. But, most of all, what did Fritz mean by "this isn't anyone's business but our own"?

His vision began to blur, and dizziness struck. Acting quickly, Valentine pulled over to the side of the road to avoid an accident. He took several deep breaths, feeling intense nausea.

"Oh, God," Valentine gasped out, gripping his head. "W-what's happening to me?"

He felt the urge to vomit, and he tried to hold it back. This attempt was successful, but his vision darkened and he slipped into unconsciousness.

Valentine awoke to the feeling of a pillow propping up his head and the sound of beeping. His eyes fluttered open, and he realized he was in a hospital room. He sat up, looking around sleepily for some kind of explanation as to why he was there.

The door opened, and a young, blond doctor walked in clutching some papers. She smiled at Valentine, pulling up a chair and sitting beside him. "Hello, there. My name is Doctor Swann, and you're Kieran Valentine, correct?"

Valentine nodded slowly. "Y...yeah. Why am I here?"

"It seems you fainted," Swann explained. "We did a blood test on you, and it doesn't seem you were dehydrated,"

"Then why did I faint?" He inquired. "All I remember is being dizzy and sick,"

Swann nodded, flipping through the papers. "I see...are you on any medication?"

"Yes, I'm on Duotine,"

She looked up, a quizzical look on her face. "Duotine?" She asked, confused. "Why are you taking Duotine?"

"I have a heart problem where I'm prone to heart attacks if I get too scared or stressed," he explained. "Duotine keeps me calm,"

Swann sighed, writing this down. "Okay, well, you need to be careful. It's very easy to overdose on Duotine," she then pulled a cup out of her pocket. "I'm going to need a urine sample from you. Would you like me to leave the room?"

"Yes please," Valentine sighed, taking the cup.

Swann left the room, and she knocked the door moments later. "You done?"

"I am, yes," he answered, and he handed her the cup when she entered.

She left once again, and she was gone for about ten minutes. When she returned, she had a bit of grin on her face, which made Valentine feel slightly uneasy.

"Well, Kieran," she began, sitting beside him with the test results clutched in her hand. "I'm afraid you'll have to stop taking Duotine,"

"Why?" Valentine asked, feeling worried. "Is something wrong?"

Swann took a deep breath. "Maybe, I can't say for certain, but it's best you switch to a different medicine," there was a pause, and she continued. "You're pregnant, Kieran,"

For a moment, Valentine thought he misheard her. "I'm...I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"You're pregnant," Swann said, glancing back down at the test results. "You're not very far along, it would seem,"

The words sunk in, and Valentine's mind began reeling. "N-no! That's impossible! I can't be pregnant!"

"Well, were you born a vampire?"

"Yes, but-"

"Have you been sexually active?" Swann grinned. She was just having fun, now.

Valentine gripped the sides of his head, swallowing hard. "I...a month ago, I was!"

"Did you use protection?"

He was about to say 'yes', but then he remembered. "No," Valentine sighed, his head dropping down in embarrassment. "We didn't,"

Swann nodded slowly, scribbling something down on her paper. "I see. Do you plan on keeping it?"

Valentine thought about this. "I'm not sure," he admitted. "I already have a baby at home, and he's a handful. Just...let me think about it, okay?"

"Sure thing," Swann smiled, getting up and leaving the room.

Elsewhere, Valentina was wondering why her father was late. He was supposed to pick her up from her mother's house to take her for the week, but he was never this late.

Valentina finally could no lounger stand it, and she texted her father.

" _Where r u!?_ "

A few minutes later, she got a response.

" _I had a bit of an accident and I'm at the hospital. Let your mom know, ok?_ "

An accident? Valentina was about to ask what happened, but she figured she'd hear about it when she got there. Getting up from her spot on the couch, Valentina went off to alert her mother. Last she knew, Howleen was in the basement playing cards with Romulus and watching TV. However, when Valentina went in the basement, it was empty. There weren't even cards on the table.

"Mom?" Valentina called, looking around in confusion. "Mom, are you down here?" There was no response, so she went back up to the main floor. She then went upstairs to look around, wondering if maybe the two had gone up there. But, what was there to do upstairs?

She noticed the door to her mother's bedroom was slightly ajar, and she pushed it open, only to see something that confused her greatly.

Howleen and Romulus were...in bed? And what were they doing? Valentina just stared open-mouthed, trying to decipher what was happening. If it hadn't been for the fact that Romulus noticed her, she probably would have stood there longer and witnessed a little too much.

"Hey!" Romulus barked, quickly covering himself and Howleen with the bed sheet. "What are you doing here!?"

Valentina jolted at the sound of his voice and ran out, rushing down the stairs and resuming her spot on the couch. About five minutes later, Howleen made her way down the stairs, decked in nothing but a bathrobe and an embarrassed look on her face.

"I'm sorry, lovey," Howleen chewed on her lip, sitting beside her daughter. "I thought your dad picked you up already!"

Valentina swallowed hard, looking up at her mother. "He...he said he got into an accident, and...what were you and Romulus doing!?"

Howleen sighed, looking away. "Look, kiddo...he and I have been...dating. And sometimes, monsters who are dating...uh, do that,"

"Why?" Valentina asked, wrinkling her nose. "What's so great about it?"

Before the conversation could get more awkward, there was a knock at the door. Howleen stood up quickly, chirping, "I'll get it!" She opened she door, seeing it was Vampira, who was holding Charlie at her hip.

Vampira smiled, shaking Howleen's hand. "Hello, dear! I'm here to pick up Valentina. Valentine fainted out on the road, and he's at the hospital right now,"

Howleen nodded understandingly. "Oh, okay. Is he all right?"

"I don't know. He'll be back at home later to give us the news," Vampira grinned down at Valentina and took her aside. "We'll be on our way then,"

As Valentina began to leave, Howleen gave her a big kiss. "See you Saturday, baby! I love you,"

Valentina kissed her back. "Love you too, Mom," she murmured, still confused by what she'd seen.

About half an hour later, Valentine returned home. He walked in to see his mother sitting on the couch with Charlie nestled in her arms.

"Well?" She asked, her voice sick with worry. "Is everything all right?

Valentine sighed, sitting beside her. "Where are the girls?"

"Upstairs, watching the television. Why?"

He began to wring his hands, trying to think of how to properly explain. Finally, he just decided to cut to the chase. "I'm pregnant again,"

Vampira's mouth fell open. "Again!? Oh, darling!" She put an arm around him, full of concern. "Does this mean you need to stop taking that medicine of yours?"

Valentine shrugged. "Well, I might have to switch to another one. But I'm not sure if I should keep it,"

"That's your decision, dear," Vampira sighed, propping Charlie up on her shoulder. "Your last pregnancy almost killed you, though,"

"I know," he mumbled, his eyes becoming downcast. There was a pause, and he got up and went to his room.

Flopping down on the bed, Valentine pulled out his phone and dialed Deuce's number. However, the phone just rang and rang, and the only voice that came through said, "We're sorry. The number you have reached is currently not in service. Please leave a message after the beep,"

There was a beep, and Valentine began talking. "Hey, Deuce. Look, something happened today, and..." He trailed off. "Just...call me back when you get the chance, okay?"

Valentine disconnected, setting his phone down beside him on the bed. He stared down at it, murmuring, "Please answer, Deuce,"

Deuce didn't call back.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: The Hole In The Wall

Valentine woke Monday morning to a crippling case of morning sickness, and he called his professor and told him that he would be taking the day off. Due to this, Vampira got the girls ready for school and fed Charlie while her son lay in his bed and tried to stave off his nausea. However, this didn't stop Valentina from walking into her father's room to talk to him.

"Are you okay, daddy?" She asked softly, her fuzzy ears flattening against her head as her father lifted his head up slowly.

"Not really, no," he groaned, shifting his body to look at her. "I feel very sick. I should be better by the afternoon, though,"  
Valentina smiled, coming a little closer. "That's good. Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," he yawned, sitting up a bit. "What is it?"

"Well..." She trailed off, then took a deep breath. "Dad, I think Mom is dating Romulus,"

His interest peaked a little. "Really? Well, good for her. He's a nice fit for her,"

Valentina became confused. "You mean...you're not angry?"

"Why would I be? Your mother and I aren't married. Why would I be upset?"

"Aren't you afraid Romulus will replace you?"

Valentine gave a laugh. "Sweetheart, he will never replace me," with a trembling hand, he stroked her face gently. "You don't need to worry,"

Valentina grinned a bit, but then she had another question. "Dad...were you and mom forced to have me?"

"F-forced? I-" his body lurched suddenly, and he clapped a hand over his mouth. Valentina jolted and quickly grabbed the waste basket that was on the floor beside her, but her father waved her off. "No, no, I'm all right. Shouldn't you be getting ready for school?"

Valentina looked at the clock on the wall, and she sighed. "Yeah, okay," she gave her dad a kiss. "Love you, Daddy,"

He kissed her back. "Love you, too, Tina,"

As she left the room, Valentine sighed and pressed his face into the pillow. He was going to have to tell her what happened eventually, but now wasn't the right time.

He fell asleep for a few hours and dreamed odd dreams he could not quite remember, but the one part he did remember was when he gave birth to a baby that fit in his palm. He was puzzled by this image when he awoke, but then he remembered that Gorgon babies were born that size sometimes.

His phone rang on the nightstand, startling him. He silently prayed for it to be Deuce, but when he checked the number, it was someone he didn't recognize. With a sigh, he answered. "Hello?"

"Hey, Val. How are you doing?" A female voice inquired. There was a pause, and she explained herself. "It's me, Emileen."

"Emileen? How did you get my number?"

"I got it form the professor," she explained. "He said you were sick, and I wanted to check up on you,"

"Oh. Well, thanks, I'm feeling better now,"

Before he could try to disconnect, Emileen spoke up rather loudly. "Oh, yeah! I gotta tell you something,"

"What?"

Emileen took a deep breath. "Remember the other day, how we wondered if we were related?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, that might be true. I discovered last night that Darrien and I are both adopted!"

Valentine went totally silent in shock. After a moment, he found his voice. "How...how did you find this out?"

"My mom- well, Rowena- went out drinking with her friends last night, and I had to go pick her up. She was wasted out of her mind, and in the car on the way home she started rambling about two babies in a bag that were given to her and her sister, and when I asked where the babies are now, she said, 'you and Darrien are the babies'. Isn't that crazy?"

He let this sink in. "Okay, but...what if she was just making that up?"

"That's what I thought, too," she explained breathlessly. "But this morning, when she was sober, she admitted to it and cried. Through all I can get out of her is that Darrien and I just seemingly came out of nowhere as orphans. Isn't it all just insane? I could be related to you!"

"Oh, maybe," Valentine was very still very puzzled, yet nevertheless he bid her goodbye and promised to speak with her again.

At the same time, the Skelementary school children were released from their classes to go play on the playground for recess. As Valentina and Anne Marie played about the large oak tree with their friends, Victoria watched them silently from the picnic table. She was all alone, until her friend Sarah approached.

"Look at her," Sarah hissed, pointing to Valentina. "She's so ugly. And look at Dodger! He looks even worse. Vampires and werewolves shouldn't be allowed to have kids together, don't you think?"

Victoria didn't speak. She could have made a joke about Dodger's lisp (which he had due to the fact that his teeth were too big for his mouth), but she said nothing. Victoria also could have made a remark about the purity ring Anne Marie wore even though some older girls who knew her rumored that she'd already lost her virginity, but Victoria kept this to herself as well. She didn't want to change schools, and she didn't want her father to be angry at her again.

Angered by her friend's silence, Sarah jabbed Victoria lightly in the arm. "What's with you?! Don't you want revenge for getting punched?"

"Stop it, Sarah!" Victoria hissed. "If I do that, I'll have to leave school!"

"There aren't any teachers watching. Now's your chance!"

After much persuasion, Victoria finally gave in. Quivering slightly, she rose up from the picnic table and made her way to the tree, with Sarah traveling behind.

"Hey, freak!"

Valentina looked up, seeing Victoria and Sarah approaching. She rolled her eyes and huffed at them. "What do you want?"

Victoria got right in Valentina's face, showing her fangs. "I want a rematch. You can't just punch me and get away with it, half and half!"

"Hey!" Dodger snarled, snatching Victoria's wrist. "What's your problem with hybrids!?"

Victoria wrestled herself out of Dodger's grip. "You hybrids are ugly! Werewolves should be with werewolves, vampires should be with vampires, and so on! That's the way it should be!"

"Wait a second," Icer got a bit closer to Victoria, looking her over. "Aren't you half human?"

Victoria's face fell. "W-what? No, I'm not!"

"I think she is," Valentina observed, a slight smile coming to her face. "See? She has blue eyes instead of red!"

Sarah looked over at Victoria, quirking an eyebrow. "Is that true? Are you half human?"

Though Victoria would not admit it, her mother had been human. The poker-playing waitress from Las Vegas abandoned Victoria along with Darrien after a much older business man offered her a job as a swimsuit model for his company. Victoria had not seen her mother since she was two years old.

However, before any of this could be discussed, something happened. Unbeknownst to the rest of the group, young Tigerclaw had been practicing his magic every day, and he'd gotten quite good at it. As Victoria stood there, something wet began to trial down her leg, and she jumped in surprise at the realization that she'd just wet herself. A few feet away, Tigerclaw grinned to himself, for he'd just mentally squeezed Victoria's bladder to make her do this.

Victoria stared in horrified silence at the rancid wet spot on her bright purple shorts, and she quickly turned away and darted towards the school. Inevitably, other children saw her, and Victoria suddenly found herself being taunted by her classmates.

"Eww, so gross!" Someone laughed, and an older boy shoved her down. "Aww, does someone need a diaper?"

Victoria was nearly in tears. "Stop it! Leave me alone!"

After escaping the others, she made it into the school to the nurse's office. The nurse sent her to the showers to clean up, but when she came out, she was given nothing but a long T-shirt to wear.

"But what about underwear!?" Victoria demanded to know. "Do I get new underwear?"

The nurse let out an exasperated sigh. "The shirt is long enough. Don't be a baby about it, the day's almost over,"

These events led to Victoria standing outside the school waiting for her father in nothing but a T-shirt and her soiled clothes in a plastic bag at her side. A few feet away stood Valentina and Anne Marie, who were waiting to be picked up as well.

"I feel kinda bad for her," Anne Marie sighed, absent-mindedly swinging her lunchbox around.

"Why?" Valentina snorted. "She asked for it,"

As Victoria stood alone, she was approached by some boys who'd seen her earlier, and they got uncomfortably close to her.

"Watcha wearin' there, crybaby?" Inquired Jack, a coyote boy who was notorious for teasing girls. "A T-shirt?"

Victoria backed away and said nothing, glaring at Jack. Another boy, a young dragon pup, happened to glance down at Victoria's legs, and his eyes got big. "Whoa! Yo, Jack, she's not wearing panties!"

Jack howled in delight. "Really!? Let me look!"

At this point, Victoria had enough. "Leave me alone!" She shrieked, shoving him away. He came at her again and reached for the hem of the long T-shirt, and she slapped him in the face. Unfortunately, this was all Mr. O'Hare saw when he stepped outside the building.

"Victoria!" The wererabbit snapped, clapping a paw on her shoulder. "What is the meaning of this!?"

Before Victoria even got a chance to speak, Jack cut in. "She hit me!" The coyote barked angrily. "She's crazy!"

"Okay, calm down," Mr. O'Hare turned to Victoria again. "Why did you hit Jack?"

"He wouldn't leave me alone!" Victoria exclaimed, trying to hold back her tears. "They were trying to touch me!"

"That's not true!" One of Jack's friends spoke up. "She freaked out and slapped him for no reason!"

Before Mr. O'Hare had time to sort anything out, Valentina approached. "They're telling the truth, Mr. O'Hare," Valentina stated. She was lying, of course, but she didn't care. "Jack didn't do anything,"

Victoria's eyes filled with tears, and she looked up at Mr. O'Hare. "No! She's lying, Mr. O'Hare! Please believe me!"

Mr. O'Hare sighed, shaking his head. "You've broken my trust and the trust of others, Victoria. This was your last chance,"

Darrien's car pulled up just then, and Mr. O'Hare took Victoria's hand and tugged her to the car.

Valentina watched as her bully's father talked to the principal, and Anne Marie tapped her sister's shoulder.

"Why did you do that!? You lied!"

"I don't like Victoria, she's mean!" Valentina hissed. "I don't care what happens to her. I just want her gone!"

Anne Marie felt differently, and she sighed. "She doesn't deserve this,"

"She does," Valentina stated matter-of-factly. "Let's go," she tugged her sister away to wait somewhere else.

A thunder storm began as Darrien's car zoomed off to Deadly Gardens, the sky darkening above. Darrien white-knuckled the wheel as he stared off at the road ahead, avoiding the tearful gaze of his daughter.

"You didn't listen to me," Darrien growled low, his fangs showing slightly.

"It wasn't my fault, Daddy!" Victoria sobbed. "Jack tried to lift my T-shirt up!"

"I know that!" Darrien snapped irritably. "You just should have asked an adult to help you,"

"They're weren't any!"

Darrien let out a long sigh. "Then...I don't know what to do! All I know is that you slapped a kid. That's the only part I know about for sure," he glanced down at the T-shirt she was wearing, and his look softened. "But something needs to be done about the fact that you have nothing else on but a T-shirt. Look, I'm going to a meeting tomorrow about this, so we'll discuss what happened today there,"

The car pulled in the parking lot, and the father and daughter emerged from the car and into the rain. Now inside, Victoria got right into her room and changed into her pajamas. After she'd changed, she walked in to the kitchen and stood beside her father as he prepared some pizza for dinner.

"Daddy," she sighed, leaning against him. "Am I getting expelled?"

Darrien went silent. After a moment, he pushed her away gently. "Go watch TV,"

But Victoria didn't want to watch TV. She wanted her father to hug her and call her his baby, so she'd know everything was okay. She wanted to be comforted and loved, but her father wasn't in the mood. _He's mad at me,_ she though glumly, and she walked off to be alone.

Her grandmother wasn't home at the moment, so she crawled under Merrill's bed like she used to do when she was little and hid there, curling up in a fetal position and beginning to cry. She cried for a long time, until her hair stuck to her teary face and her throat went dry. For a few more minutes, she lay there and took several deep breaths, but then something caught her eye. From beneath her grandmother's huge bed, she could see a hole in the wall.

It wasn't a terribly large hole, it was more like a slightly large crack, yet Victoria could see a light glowing from the other side. As she crawled a little further, she could smell the all too familiar smell of blood and she could hear faint music playing. She thought about backing out and just running to her room, but she went against her better judgment, took a deep breath, and squeezed through the hole.

She would regret this action for many years to come.

Now behind the wall, she took in her surroundings. It was another room, with two couches, an old TV, and a small table in the middle of everything with an uneaten bowl of pasta on top. Victoria stood up cautiously, looking around and taking a few careful steps. She'd never been in this room before, and she never even knew it existed.

Victoria walked a little further, stopping when she noticed that the door to the bathroom in front of her was slightly ajar, and that someone was in there.

She held her breath as a young man with thick, black hair washed his hands in the sink. He looked like Jeffery, the janitor, but when he swept the hair from his face, Victoria was struck with the realization that he was not the janitor at all, but instead some strange creature with a mutilated face.

Victoria backed away, breathing hard, praying he didn't see her. She made up her mind: she had to leave. She turned back to leave, but it was too late.

A tall, slender, faceless figure blocked the exit. The figure leaned in close, slowly reaching out its hands and touching Victoria's face. Then, it snatched her.

And that's how Victoria went missing.

 **Hello, my friends! This is late, I know, but I have family visiting, so I haven't been able to write as much...**

 **Thoughts so far? Let me know your thoughts, theories, comments and questions in your review! I love getting feedback, as you know.**

 **Until next chapter, my monsters!**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

The Television

It was Tuesday, and Valentine was feeling much better than the day before. Because of this, he was able to slip back into his normal routine and prepare for classes.

When he arrived at the lecture hall, Emileen caught sight of him and waved.

"Hey!" She called, getting his attention. "Over here!"

He walked over quickly, taking his seat beside her and greeting her with a handshake. "How are you?" He asked.

"Not bad. Hey, I gotta tell you something about what my mom told me,"

"What is it?"

Emileen pulled out a paper covered in mostly unintelligible writing and sketches. "Okay, so I've been trying to figure out where Darrien and I came from, and I realized something. Look," she held up her hand for him to see, and she pointed out two small bumps on the side of her hand. "I used to have extra fingers, but I got them removed a few years back. I did some research last night and I found out that extra fingers and toes are sometimes the result of inbreeding among vampires,"

Valentine thought this over silently. "So, you think your parents were...related?"

She nodded. "Makes sense. Incest was considered a taboo among vampires and punishable by death when I was born, so it makes sense if they didn't want Darrien and I,"

"Does Darrien have any deformities?"

"He does," Emileen explained. "He has an extra patch of skin on his left foot. He's going to get it surgically removed sometime, but I read that this is also a symptom of inbreeding,"

Valentine nodded understandingly. "Okay, I see. Did you happen to figure out where you came from?"

Emileen sighed. "No, Merrill won't say, and neither will Mom. They just say someone handed us over in a bag as babies. It was years ago, so maybe they don't remember,"

The conversation would have continued had it not been for the fact that the lecture for the day began, and it was time to work. Noon rolled around, and the lecture ended, and the students made their way out.

"Do you have any siblings, Valentine?" Emileen inquired as they headed towards the door.

"No," Valentine shook his head, a bit sad. "I was the only surviving child my mother gave birth to. Medical practices weren't great back then, so babies weren't really expected to survive. I was in a set of triplets, but my brother and sister both died at birth,"

"I'm sorry to hear that," Emileen said sympathetically. "Did they have names?"

"I don't think so. My mom only got to see them for a few seconds after they were born, but when the midwife moved them to a different room they passed away. My aunt Sonata says they had a lung infection, because she was with both of them when they died," he stopped suddenly, and he noticed someone standing farther away. "Is that Darrien?"

Emileen noticed, and her facial expression changed to one of confusion. She ran up to Darrien, touching his shoulder. Valentine couldn't hear the conversation, but Darrien looked upset. After a few minutes, he walked up to listen.

"She'd just never run off like this!" Darrien lamented, his voice thick with grief. "Her mother already left me- she can't leave me, too!"

"Darrien, calm down," Emileen said softly, patting his back.

Darrien wiped at his eyes, coughing. "I can't calm down, she's my child!"

"Did something happen to Victoria?" Valentine inquired.

"Yes, she disappeared," Darrien sighed, crossing his arms and looking at his shoes. "Maybe she thought I didn't love her anymore, or maybe she's mad at me! What if this is my fault!?"

"I'll help you find her, Darrien," Valentine offered,touching his arm.

Darrien swallowed hard. "Thanks. I really hope you can,"

So, Victoria became another child to find along with Rowan, as both girls were last seen at Deadly Gardens. Valentine worked meticulously each night, first on schoolwork, then on finding Rowan, and then on finding Victoria. Though working on his studies always proved to be successful, finding the girls always led to nothing and he'd wind up each night feeling tired and frustrated. It didn't help that there was a baby in him, which was the source of most of the stress. He was planning on keeping the baby, now, but there were times during his long nights that he wondered if it was really worth all the stress. It was like a horror film: there was actually a creature living inside of him.

Before there was any real time to contemplate anything, three months had gone by. Rowan and Victoria were not found. Rowan was nearly going to be considered dead, but her parents refused to stop looking. Gory and Bram were willing to do whatever it took to find their little girl.

Those involved, however, were becoming quite frustrated. It seemed as though both girls had disappeared into thin air, for there was just no way of figuring out what happened. The whole investigation was taking a toll on Valentine, who's pregnancy was becoming quite noticeable. This led to Clawd pulling his friend aside for a little chat.

"Val, look," Clawd sighed, sitting down beside the vampire at their local Die-ner. "I know you really want to help and everything, but...you need to take a break,"

Valentine looked up in near shock. "What!? No, Clawd, I promised Bram I would look! Please, don't worry about me. I'm okay, really!"

Clawd chewed on his bottom lip. "Well...okay, look," he lowered his voice. "It's really no secret that you're pregnant, man. And I think you need to do what's best for you and take a break, okay?"

"But-" Valentine finally had to give in. Clawd was right. "Okay, fine. I'll just be checking up every now and again. Sound good?"

"That's fine, just don't stress yourself out,"

"I won't. Thank you for checking up on me,"

Meanwhile, at Deadly Gardens, Gory applied her makeup in the mirror of her room. She was just sweeping the mascara brush across her eyelashes, her husband Bram entered.

"What are you getting dressed up for?" He asked, his voice a little quiet. He'd spoken softly since Rowan had disappeared.

"None of your business," Gory snapped, running her lipgloss over her lips. "I just need to get away for the night,"

There was a pause, and Bram spoke again, his voice a little louder. "Our child is missing, Gory," his voice shook. "Everyone says she's dead. Please, we need to find her!"

"Just-!" Gory stopped mid yell, and she sighed. She screwed the lipgloss shut with quivering fingers. "Just let me have my fun tonight. Please just let me forget, just for tonight,"

There was yet more silence, and Gory grabbed her bag. "I won't be long," and with that, she was off.

Bram sank slowly onto the couch, taking a deep breath. The apartment was so quiet, and he desperately missed the sounds of his daughter's footsteps and the low murmur of her whispering to her toys. He hadn't spent much time with her, and now he wished he had.

Their pet poodle leapt up suddenly and knocked the TV over in an effort to get attention, and Bram let out a yell. "Oh, come on!"

Grumbling to himself, he went to set the TV back up, only to see that the dog had switched the TV on through knocking it over and had switched it over to some channel where there was just static. Bram didn't think much of it, as he usually ran into TV channels that were just static.

However, this channel soon proved to be very different from the others. Just as Bram set the TV back up, he began to see strange shapes in the static. He froze, squinting and trying to make out what was in the static.

The shape of a small figure with their hands pressed against the camera soon became visible, and as the static cleared, the figure became distinguishable: Rowan.

Bram's jaw dropped, and his hands fell against the screen. "Rowan!" He choked out, leaning closer. "Rowan, sweetie, is that you!?"

The static popped and hissed, but Rowan's little voice was soon heard. "Daddy?" She whimpered, pressing her hands against the lens. "Daddy, help me!"

"Where are you!?" He asked frantically, his heart racing. "Honey, I don't know where you are!"

She didn't seem to hear him. "I'm scared, daddy! There's a man with a knife, and-and my doll is alive now," she stopped to take a breath. "My doll is alive, now, and he took someone else! Please, Daddy, come find me!"

"I'll find you, Rowan!" Bram sobbed, smacking his hand on the screen. "Stay where you are- I'll find you, I promise!"

There was a loud hissing sound, and Rowan whipped around behind her. "Oh, no!" She cried out, and she darted away.

As the static filled the screen once more, Bram smacked the TV with his fist once more. "No!" He began to sob. "No, Rowan! Come back! I'm right here!" The screen cut to black, and Bram began violently beating the screen with his fist, the tears rolling down his cheeks.

Gory returned to find her husband collapsed in a mess of broken TV shards and stuffing from the couch. Horrified, she knelt beside him and shook him.

"Bram, what happened!? Did someone break in?"

Bram gasped and sobbed, looking up with bloodshot eyes. "Rowan's in danger! Oh, Gory, we have to keep looking! We can't give up!"

It was Wednesday night when Clawd, Heath, Clawdeen and Romulus arrived at Deadly Gardens to keep up the search. When they entered the building, they were greeted by two werefoxes, a male and a female.

"Hello, there," the female greeted, stepping forward and shaking hands with Clawd. "I'm Vixen Love, Gory and Bram's private investigator," she gestured to the male beside her. "This is my brother, Robin. He's my assistant. Now, you're Clawd Wolf, I'm guessing?"

Clawd nodded, a bit confused. "Uh, yeah. I...forgot you were still working for them,"

"We were about to call it quits and pronounce Rowan dead," Vixen explained with a sigh. "But her parents wouldn't have it. They're convinced that she's still alive somewhere,"

Robin tried to speak up. "Well, actually, Bram said-"

"He was only hallucinating, Robin," Vixen cut her brother off with a wave of her manicured nails. "It happens,"

"Wait, I don't understand," Heath spoke up, concerned. "What did Bram say?"

Robin leaped at the chance to talk before his sister could. "He said Rowan tried to talk to him through the TV,"

Vixen glared at her brother, and he went silent. "Actually," she said, stepping closer. "Bram probably is just seeing things. How could she communicate through a TV of all things?" She scoffed. "It just seems silly,"

"Stranger things have happened," Clawd crossed his arms, a bit irritated. "I wouldn't be so quick to say that it was just his imagination playing tricks on him,"

Vixen rolled her eyes at him. "Ugh, don't give me that, Wolfie. This is my line of work, not yours,"

As she strutted away, Robin walked up to Clawd and looked at him apologetically. "Sorry about her," he muttered. "She's not always like this, I promise,"

"Hey, it's fine," Clawd assured him, and they went off to investigate.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: The Smiling Man

The six monsters spent the investigation just walking up and down the hallways of Deadly Gardens, checking the place out and talking to just about every resident they came across. Deadly Gardens appeared to be laid out in this way: There were four floors, all with lots of small but comfortable rooms. However, there was one more apartment that was located underneath the building. It was just one singular home, which was rather confusing to the group. Why have just one room beneath a huge apartment building that was filled with rooms to begin with?

This peaked Clawdeen's interest to the point where she decided to talk to whoever lived there. As she made her way down the stairs to the lower room, she was joined by Robin.

"What are you going down here for?" Robin inquired, trailing behind the she wolf.

Clawdeen raised an eyebrow. "Weren't you hanging around your sister? Where'd she go?"

Robin sighed. "Well...she told me to stop following her,"

"So you decided to start following me?"

When Robin didn't answer, Clawdeen simply knocked on the door. "I just want to see if anyone lives here. It seems strange to me that anyone would,"

The door opened, and standing there was a thin, vampire woman with dark brown hair. When she saw Clawdeen, she backed away a bit.

"Can I...can I help you?"

Clawdeen gave her a reassuring smile, reaching out a hand. "Hi, I'm Clawdeen Wolf, and I'm helping to look for two missing girls?"

The woman relaxed a bit, taking the offered hand cautiously and shaking it. "Oh, hello. M-my name's Rowena Holiday. You're a detective?"

"Well, no," she gestured to Robin. "He is, technically,"

"Yeah," Robin grinned shyly, shaking Rowena's extended hand. "I'm an intern, actually. My sister's the real detective,"

Rowena fell silent, and Clawdeen took a step forward. "Would you mind if we came in and asked you some questions?"

"Sure, I suppose. Come on in," she let them in, and once they'd entered, she shut the door. "You see," she began, a bit sad. "My great niece was one of the girls who was taken,"

Robin looked at her sympathetically. "I'm sorry to hear that. Which one is she?"

"Her name is Victoria," Rowena explained, taking a seat while pulling up chairs for her guests to sit in. "She is going to turn eleven years old soon, and we all miss her dearly,"

"When did you last see her?" Clawdeen asked, and Robin pulled out a tape recorder to record what was being said.

"I saw Victoria the morning before she disappeared," Rowena began with a sad sigh. "She seemed her usual self- talkative and ready for the day. I saw her eat breakfast and get ready for school, and everything seemed normal. But when I got back from work, my nephew said that she bullied another child at school and could be expelled for her behavior, and that she was really upset. When she didn't come out of her room for dinner, I knew something was wrong, but we figured she was just sulking and we saved some pizza for her. I just..." She trailed off, her eyes becoming downcast. "I just feel like we could have prevented this. Her father shouldn't have just left her to cry like that. Maybe she wouldn't have...run off,"

"But you don't know if she ran off," Clawdeen spoke up. "Someone could have snatched her,"

Rowena shook her head. "That's impossible! If somebody broke in, we would know. This is such a small home, and there's only one door. We would know if someone came in,"

There was a silence, and then Clawdeen asked the question that had been bothering her. "Why is there only one basement level room? I mean, there isn't another one here, is there?"

Rowena cocked her head to the side. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I just thought it was strange. It doesn't make sense for there to be just one basement level room,"

"Actually," Rowena took a deep breath. "There is another room. We aren't allowed in there, though,"

Robin looked interested. "Another room? Can you show us?"

Rowena stood up and beckoned for the two to follow her, and she led them to a door in the kitchen wall.

"Here," she said, pointing to it. "It's right here, see? But, look," she jiggled the handle. "It's locked. It's been locked since I first moved here,"

Clawdeen examined the door. "So...no one lives here?"

Rowena shrugged. "I don't see how anyone could. This is the only entrance that I know of, and given the room's history..." She stopped, her hand recoiling from the doorknob slightly.

"I'm afraid I don't understand," Robin said, a bit nervous. "Did something happen in that room?"

"Yes," Rowena nodded, looking anxious. "See, over a hundred years ago, there was a terrorist vampire group called TVC. Do you know of them?"

Clawdeen groaned. "Unfortunately, yes. I have a bad past with them,"

"Well, they stayed here briefly, and their leader Eris stayed in that room, behind that door. However, during the stay, Eris murdered her, at the time, husband and stuffed his body under the floorboards. After a cleaning lady found him, Eris fled with her group and she was never charged. The room's been shut off ever since,"

Robin swallowed thickly, trying the door handle again. "So...is it haunted?"

Rowena chewed on her lip. "That...that I don't know. I've heard different things. Some say the ghost used to live in the room and then moved on, but others say he still lives there. No one has seen him here, though,"

There was a pause, and Robin shut the tape recorder off. "Thank you for talking to us today,"

"No, thank you for looking for Victoria," Rowena sighed, and as her guests turned to go, she added, "Please find her, you two. Please bring her back to us,"

"We will," Clawdeen assured, and they left.

Elsewhere, Clawd had decided to venture out of Deadly Gardens and look around outside. As he walked around, he happened upon something he didn't expect to find.

"A barn?" He muttered in surprise at the sight of the small barn in the midst of a field behind Deadly Gardens. "What do they need a barn for?"

He headed for the barn, pushed on the door and went inside. It certainly wasn't abandoned, as there were chickens everywhere. The chickens simply clucked to themselves and didn't seem to know that Clawd was there, so this made it easy for him to explore the barn. As he climbed up into the loft, however, he got the feeling that someone else was there.

"Hello?" Clawd called out, his fur prickling. "Who's there?"

He caught the scent of normie, and he relaxed a bit. Yet, as footsteps apporached and Clawd looked up, he became on edge once again.

He knew this man. This was a killer, and a famous one at that. He'd never been caught by police, but his face was known by many.

As the man approached, Clawd backed away and unsheathed his claws. "S-stay back!"

The man's smile never faltered once, and he came closer and closer as he and Clawd watched one another upon the loft.

"Why so tense?" The man asked, pulling a knife out from his sweatshirt pocket. "I haven't touched you, Fido,"

Clawd showed his carnivore teeth, hoping that would scare the man off. "I know who you are! Go away! Or I'll..."

"You'll what?" Those unblinking eyes scanned the wolf up and down with slight amusement. "Look, Lassie. I came here to get some eggs. I should be the one asking what _you're_ doing here,"

"I'll call the police!" Clawd barked, whipping out his phone. This soon proved to be a mistake, as the man then began to advance towards him.

"You shouldn't do that!" He yelled, knocking the Clawd's phone out of his hand and pinning the wolf against the wall. Clawd became completely still, his breathing erratic and full of fear. There was a pause, and the smiling man slowly dragged the knife across the fur on Clawd's shoulder. It didn't hurt, but Clawd still feared for his life. This man was known as Jeff the Killer- an unpredictable and quite insane murderer. Knowing this made Clawd especially nervous, for it frightened him that he didn't know what to expect.

Jeff stopped the movement of his knife, and he put it back into his pocket. Then, without warning, he reached forward and ripped a patch of fur clean off of Clawd's shoulder. Clawd let out a yell of surprise, his head thumping on the wall behind him. Jeff held up the patch of fur for Clawd to see.

"You'd better not tell anybody you saw me," he drawled. "Or I'll have a nice throw rug, soon,"

As Jeff turned to go, Clawd suddenly heard himself blurting out, "Did you kill them!?"

Jeff paused in his tracks. "You'll have to narrow that down,"

"T-those girls," Clawd swallowed, his heart racing. "The ones who went missing here. Did you...did you do that?"

Jeff was silent, and then he sang in a little voice, " _It wasn't meeee!_ "

With that, he leapt down from the loft, collected some eggs, and left. Clawd waited until he was gone, and crept silently down from the loft.

"Oh, God," he whispered, looking around and feeling quite paranoid. "I just...what do I do?"

At around midnight, the group went home. Fritz stood by the door and bid them goodbye as they left, and when they were gone, he shut the door and locked it for the night.

He headed for the kitchenette, gathering some grocery bags filled with food and heading towards the front desk. Kneeling down and balancing the bags in one arm, he moved the rug behind the desk away, revealing the trap door. He undid the latch, looked around to make sure no one was there, and he slipped in, closing the door behind him.

Fritz soon found himself at the bottom on the long, winding staircase into the basement. He went to one of the big, heavy doors and punched in the code. The door made a 'ping' sound, and he pushed it open and entered.

"Hey, I brought your supplies for the week," he set the bags down on the kitchen counter, and he looked to the left of him. Fritz quirked an eyebrow. "Where's your dad? And shouldn't you be in bed?"

"Dad's in the shower, so I had to put Germaine to bed," explained the thin, twelve year old vampire boy. "What did you bring, Papa?"

Fritz began to unload the groceries. "I got that ceareal you like, some crackers, and, uhh..." He pulled out a package of little pies. "Whatever these are,"

Just then, the door to the bathroom opened, and an older vampire came out. Drying his wet hair with a towel, he looked up at Fritz, and he dropped the towel in surprise.

"Oh," the vampire swallowed nervously. "I...didn't know you were coming tonight,"

There was a pause, and Fritz gestured to the boy. "Felix, go to bed,"

"Don't tell him what to do!" The other vampire growled, and Fritz responded by seizing him by the neck and shoving him against the wall.

With the other vampire now partially immobilized, Fritz turned back to Felix. "I said, 'go to bed'!"

Felix faltered for a moment, but then shuffled off to bed quickly. With him out of the way, Fritz licked up the other vampire's chest, snarling all the while.

"You were Sonata's gift to me," Fritz rasped, grazing his teeth along the other's neck. "That's all you are to me. Stop acting like you're anything else,"

The vampire beneath him sighed, stilling himself and allowing Fritz to do what he came to do.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

Three New Buds

Thursday afternoon, Valentine headed for a doctor's appointment. Though he'd had no prenatal care with Anne Marie, he knew to expect- the doctor was going to poke him with things, talk about medicine, do an ultrasound, and hopefully send him home without a hitch. He wasn't worried at all when the nurse called his name and led him into the examination room.

However, this changed as the doctor, a stout little deer man named Dr. Buck, measured Valentine's waistline and looked him over with a concerned expression. After some silence, Valentine finally spoke.

"Is...everything all right?" Valentine asked, a little worried.

Buck remained silent, putting the stethoscope up against the vampire's ribs and listening intently. After a moment, Buck pulled away and took a deep breath.

"How far did you say you were?" He inquired.

Valentine thought for a moment. "About four months, I'm assuming,"

Buck just sighed and shook his head. "That doesn't seem possible. You see, you're a little too big for your term. Of course, there could always be the possibility that your baby is just a little big,"

"I don't see how that could be possible," Valentine spoke up. "Vampire babies don't grow to be very big,"

"If you don't mind me asking," Buck began, reaching out a hand and poking around Valentine's midsection once again. "But what species is the baby's father?"

"He's a gorgon,"

With a deep sigh, Buck pulled away and went quiet in thought. After a few seconds, he motioned for Valentine to stand. "Well, let's do the ultrasound. Maybe that will tell us something,"

Valentine took a seat in the big, reclining chair, and Buck switched on the equipment. Once the machine was ready, Buck covered the wand in a thin gel and pressed it against the skin of Valentine's lower abdomen. The image on the screen was a little fuzzy at first, but as Buck moved the wand around, it became a little clearer. Valentine watched the screen intently, and he saw what looked to be a baby sucking its thumb, but he wasn't entirely sure if that's what it was.

"Oh, I see," Buck mumbled, his eyes widening a bit. "I get it, now,"

"What?" Valentine asked, concerned. "What is it?"

Buck examined the image for a few more moments, and then he turned to Valentine. "Look," he pointed to the swirly shapes on the screen. "Do you see?"

"Nope."

Buck turned back to the screen, and he traced little circles around the image. "It would appear," he breathed deep. "That you are expecting triplets,"

Valentine's face fell. "I'm sorry...what?"

"There's three of them," a smile worked its way on Buck's face, and he traced the three little shapes again. "Two boys and a girl, and they're actually quite small,"

This was all so overwhelming, and Valentine's mind began reeling. He recalled the terrifying experience with Anne Marie's birth, and multiplied that by three. He didn't want to do it, now, and he soon heard himself asking, "I could...delete two, couldn't I?"

Buck's expression changed, and he turned back to his patient. "There is a procedure for that," Buck said in a lower voice. "Are you sure it's something you'd like to do?"

Valentine was about to say 'yes', but one of the babies shifted, and he stopped. After a pause, he cleared his throat. "Let me think about it,"

Upon returning home, Valentine stripped himself of all his clothing and headed straight to the bathroom for a hot shower. As the warm water slicked his pale pink body, his mind just kept spinning and spinning. There was not one, but three babies, right there inside of him at that very moment. He was beginning to understand why normies were so scared of horror movies- three creatures were just living there inside of him!

As he turned the shower off, Valentine stood there for a few moments, watching the water drip down from his wet hair. A baby kicked, and he had to remind himself that it was not just one baby, but three...a series. It was just one thought he could not expel from his mind.

After dressing in his bathrobe, he reached for his phone and decided to call Deuce. However, once again, Deuce did not answer. Valentine wondered if maybe texting Deuce would be a better idea, and he was about to do it, but then he remembered: Cleo was with Deuce. If Valentine sent Deuce a text message saying he was pregnant, Cleo might see it, and that would not be good.

Deuce had to know eventually, and Valentine knew that, but right now it seemed impossible to tell him. As Valentine climbed into his coffin to go to sleep that night, he suddenly longed for the feeling of Deuce's arms around him. He reached beneath the padding of his coffin and retrieved a jacket that belonged to Deuce, and bringing it up, he held it close. Valentine inhaled his lover's deep, warm scent that lingered on the jacket, and he whispered, "God, I miss you..."

It was a dark, moist night outside, though young Victoria had no way of knowing this.

The old, analog TV in front of her played cartoons that were much older than the TV itself, though she could not focus on them. Whimpering, Victoria shivered and pulled the crusty old blanket around her shoulders. She ran a hand through her black hair, only to feel that it was brittle and fell out when she touched it. She felt tears blur her vision as she looked down at the hair in her hand, and she let it drop to the stain-ridden carpet floor.

The door opened, and Victoria gasped and pulled the blanket over her head. There was a pause, and then a growl.

"Go to sleep. She'll be back soon,"

Victoria felt the anger building inside of her, and she got a quick ounce of courage. "Go away!" She snapped. "Please, leave!"

There was a pause, and the door slammed shut. Victoria wondered if he'd left, but as his thick, meaty smell got closer to her, she gasped at the realization that he was coming towards her. She pulled the blanket tighter around her little body, though this didn't stop the large, husky dog from sticking his muzzle directly in her face.

"What's wrong, little one?" The dog inquired in a scratchy voice. "Don't you like it here?"

Victoria broke into sobs. "No, I don't!" She turned to the dog, thrusting a handful of her brittle hair in his face. "Do you see this!? That shot the gave me did this! I hate it here! Please- take me back to my dad!"

"Your father doesn't love you!" The dog barked, snarling with those impossibly horrible teeth. "No one does! There's no better place for you than here!" When Victoria's cries did not quiet, the dog moved a little closer and licked her face.

"No!" Victoria yelped, raising a hand and striking the dog's face. The dog recoiled in surprise, and he bared his huge teeth and prepared to strike her. Before he got the chance, however, a pale white hand reached down and waved him off. The dog looked up, growled in a disappointed fashion and lumbered off, turning the door knob with his teeth and exiting the room.

Sniffling, Victoria looked up to see that the tall, faceless man had returned. She backed away a little, but he sat beside her and reached out an arm, drawing her close. The contact caused Victoria to burst into tears, and she buried her face into the man's chest and sobbed. He remained totally silent (she'd never heard him speak- she wasn't even sure if he could talk) and just stroked her hair while she cried. He startled a bit when the hair broke off in his hand, but then he just shook his head slowly. Reaching into his coat pocket, he gave her a handkerchief and tied it around her head, covering the bald spot.

Victoria was surprised when he did this, and she looked up in astonishment. "T-thank you," she said in a little voice, drying her eyes.

The faceless man then scooped her up and placed her in the top bunk of one of the bunk beds, pulling the blanket over her and petting her shoulder lovingly.

Then, just like that, he was gone.

Not that far away, a little four year old girl woke up screaming from a nightmare, thrashing in her blankets rather violently. Her older brother, who slept beside her, awoke with a start.

"Germaine!" Felix exclaimed, drawing her into his arms quickly. "Germaine, what's wrong?!"

Little Germaine sobbed profusely, burying her face into the boy's chest. "Bad dream!" She cried out. "The skinny man wanted to get me!"

The door to the closet where they slept flew open, and their father stepped in. "What's going on!? Felix, what happened to your sister?"

"It was just a bad dream, Dad," Felix explained, trying to comfort his young sister.

Their father sighed, dropping to his knees and holding little Germaine close. "There, there, Germaine," he whispered, rocking her. "Daddy's here, little fighter. You're safe,"

Germaine eventually settled down, and their father kissed them both. "Get some sleep, now," he said softly.

"Goodnight, Dad," Felix called softly as his father closed the door. Before he could settle down for his sleep, his ears caught the sound of quiet sobbing. Felix leaned over and pushed the door open a bit, looking out and seeing his father hunched over his bed praying.

"Father, where are you!?" The older male vampire wept. "I sinned, and I know I did, and I beg you to forgive me for that. But please- why must my children suffer with me!? God, why have you forsaken me!? Please, just save us! Deliver us, Lord! Don't forget me, please!"

Felix watched this quietly, and he covered his head with the blanket and slept a troubled sleep for the night.

 **Hello, once again! I hope this has been keeping you invested so far! I've been working hard on it. Apologies if this chapter is short, but I'm a bit sleepy. Trust me- there's more to come!**

 **Questions, comments, or theories about what might be going on? Let me know in a review!**

 **Until next chapter, fellow monsters!**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

The One Who Watches

It had been seven months since Rowan and Victoria disappeared.

The search continued, but to no avail. Little headway had been made, and little had been found. But, no one gave up searching. The police even got involved, but they hadn't found anything either.

Now seven months pregnant, Valentine took leave from his classes and began to study from home. Though studying from home was nice at first, it soon grew dull and Valentine began to feel less excited about his future career. There were days where he would just lie in bed and stare at the ceiling, thinking over everything and worrying. He worried about lots of things, now- what if Cleo found out about what he and Deuce did? What if he failed his classes? What if the missing girls turned up dead? It was all just too much, and carrying three babies certainly wasn't helping.

Vampira could not stand to see her son suffer like this anymore, and she took action. As Valentine prepared his breakfast that morning, Vampira handed him an envelope.

"For you," she stated as he took the envelope.

Valentine opened it up, and a puzzled look crossed his face. "I don't understand," he began, reaching in the envelope and pulling out a key. "A key? For what?"

"Look back in," Vampira said, gesturing to the envelope.

Looking back into the envelope, Valentine's eyes widened at what he saw. "Oh, no way," he murmured aloud, pulling out the photograph. After examining it to make sure he knew what it was, he looked back at his mother. "You got me a mobile home!?"

"It's a rental," Vampira explained, a smile spreading across her face. "It's down by the lake. I thought it would be a nice place for you to stay until your due date,"

There was a stunned pause, and Valentine threw his arms around his mother. "Oh, thank you mom! I wish there was something I could do for you,"

"You don't need to do anything, love," Vampira said gently, stroking her son's hair. "Seeing you so happy is enough," The phone rang, and she broke away. "I'll get it,"

As she walked off, Anna Marie, who'd been listening, entered. "You're leaving?" She asked her father, sounding a bit hurt.

"Oh, not for long," Valentine assured, leaning down the best he could to talk to her. "Only until your new siblings are born, and hopefully we won't have to wait too long for that," he gave her a little kiss. "You'll be okay with grandma, right?"

Anne Marie smiled back. "Yeah, I guess," she went off to finish her breakfast, and Vampira came back in.

Her expression had changed entirely. "That was the school," she spoke softly. "Valentina isn't allowed at school this morning,"

Valentine's brow furrowed in alarm. "What!? Why?"

"Apparently, security tapes show that she covered for some trouble-making child," Vampira explained with a sigh. "And now one of those missing girls was wrongfully suspended,"

Valentina overheard this from the breakfast table, and her heart sank. As she and Anne Marie listened to the conversation, Anne Marie just sighed and kept eating her ceareal.

"I told you, Tina,"

Since Howleen had work, Valentina had to stay at home, and Valentine kept her in her room most of the day. And then, after dinner, she got in the car with her grandmother and left for her mother's house for the weekend. As Valentina walked inside, Vampira pulled Howleen aside almost immediately and the two began to speak quietly. After a few minutes, Vampira turned to leave.

"See you soon, Tina," Vampira said quietly as she left. No hugs, no kisses- the gravity of what Valentina had done really began to sink in, now.

After the door had been shut, Howleen turned around and looked at Valentina with a look Valentina had never seen.

"Wow, kid," she shook her head. "You really did it this time,"

Valentina finally couldn't stand it. "It wasn't my fault!" She protested, stamping her foot angrily. "Victoria's never been nice to me! Why should I be nice back!?"

"Victoria's disappeared, Tina!" Howleen snapped. "Show a little damn respect! It was probably your fault she's gone,"

This was all Valentina could take, and she burst into tears. She turned to run off to the living room, only to see Romulus standing there. "Oh, what's he doing here!?" Valentina sobbed, full of rage. She collapsed on the floor, weeping profusely as Howleen came and stood over her.

"You, Missy," Howleen said after a moment. "Are grounded for a long time. Go to your room, now,"

When Valentina sat up but refused to go anywhere, Romulus broke into the dispute. "You listen to your mom, now, Tina,"

"You're not my dad!" Valentina hissed, glaring at him. "I don't have to listen you, you ugly motherfu-"

"Excuse me!?" Howleen cut it, her voice so loud it made her daughter jump. She grabbed Valentina by the shoulders and spun her around, looking directly into her eyes. "You don't talk to a grow up that way! Do you understa-" she was cut off when Valentina suddenly raised her hand and struck her mother on the mouth, drawing some blood.

A deadly silence followed, and Howleen's voice sliced through it like a knife. "Are you kidding me?" Her voice shook, and her golden eyes hardened. "Are you kidding me right now?"

Valentina finally tried to speak. "I..." This was all she got out, for then Howleen grabbed her arm and yanked her away.

"Howleen, be gentle!" Romulus tried to warn, but Howleen wouldn't listen. She dragged her daughter upstairs by the arm, and once they were on the second floor, Valentina wriggled out of her mother's grasp and tried to get away.

"Oh, no you don't!" Howleen quickly seized her daughter by the hair, lifted her up and tossed her into her room. Valentina hit the floor with a slam, and she yelped as the door banged shut behind her.

As Valentina tried to recover from what just happened, she could hear Romulus coming up the stairs.

"What did you just do!?" He asked rather anxiously. "What was that slam!?"

"I just threw her," Howleen stated, almost in disbelief at her own actions. "I just tossed her on the floor,"

"Threw her!? Oh, Jesus, Howleen! You didn't have to do that!"

The rest of their conversation was too quiet for Valentina to hear, and she just curled up in a ball on the floor and cried. Her face hurt, her chest hurt, everything was hurting. She just wanted some comfort.

As she lay there, sobbing and lamenting, she suddenly felt as though someone was watching her. She sat up quickly, quieting her cries to listen for someone. There was a silence, and then the breeze began to blow from her open window. Something moved beside her, and she looked down. There, next to her, was a slip of paper with some writing on it. She picked it up, and this is what it said:

 _"I see you are unhappy._

 _I cannot come to you, now, for I am busy, but I will be back for you later._

 _You will not suffer anymore, my child._

 _Sincerely,_

 _The one who watches."_

Valentina took a deep breath, her young body filling with anxiety. After some quiet, she folded up the note and put it in her pocket.

Elsewhere, the local grocery store was beginning to close as Darrien got all his groceries together.

It was a lighter load than usual, and it had been for the past seven months. He sighed, closing his car trunk and just stopping to think for a moment. It felt wrong now buying food for Victoria's lunches and not buying her favorite food- blue raspberry yogurt. His soul ached deeply for his daughter, and he regretted every harsh word he'd said to her, now. He just wanted his little girl back.

His thoughts were interrupted when a little girl suddenly slammed into him, catching him off guard. "Whoa!" He turned to the child, who wore a little pink dress and had long brown curls. "You okay, kid?"

The girl simply giggled at him, and she turned and sprinted off into the parking lot. Confused, Darrien looked around for any sign of an adult, but there didn't seem to be one in sight. He looked down, noticing the girl had left a teddy bear behind.

"Hey!" Darrien called out, picking up the bear. "Little girl! Did you drop your bear?"

Silence.

Darrien tried again, walking in the direction where the girl went. "Do your parents know you're here?"

He suddenly became aware of someone standing behind him, and he turned to look. It was a young woman, perhaps in her twenties, with long and curly black hair that hung down her back. Her skin was deathly pale, and her eyes were black as coal (totally black eyes weren't considered unusual in this area, as there were many black-eyed monsters around).

However, this woman didn't scare Darrien too badly. "Oh, was that your daughter, ma'am?"

The woman said nothing, and she kept one hand in her pocket. "Is that your car?" She asked finally, gesturing to the car. Her mouth did not move, and it became clear that she was wearing a mask.

Darrien's face fell. "...why?"

She got a bit closer. "Tell me,"

"No!" Darrien snapped finally, bearing his fangs. "You don't scare me, you creepy bitch!"

The woman pulled out a can of garlic spray and quickly sprayed the unsuspecting vampire down with it, making him tumble to the gravel in a spitting, sputtering mess. Once he was down, the woman knelt beside him and pulled out a wooden stake, pressing it against his throat.

"I won't hurt you, Darrien," she said in a gentle voice. "Just take me to your car. I can help you,"

Darrien stayed on the ground, but after a moment, he rose up. "Okay," he sighed. "This way,"

He led her to his car, and she promptly opened up the door and climbed into the passenger seat. When she motioned for him to get in, he slowly slid into the driver's seat, never taking an eye off her.

"Do you...want me to take you somewhere?" He asked, incredibly nervous.

She nodded. "Yeah, but hang on," she rolled down the car window and called out, "Sally! Come on, we're going!"

A few seconds later, the backseat door opened, and the little girl from earlier climbed in. "Do you have my teddy, mister?" She asked rather innocently.

Darrien looked down at the teddy bear in his hands. "Oh, y-yeah," the woman in the seat beside him took the bear and handed it to Sally.

"Here," she said to the child. "Good work today, Sal," she turned back to Darrien. "Okay, now drive. I'll give you directions,"

Darrien wondered about calling the police, but it was a bit too late, now. So, he went against his better judgment and trusted the stranger.

"By the way, I should probably tell you my name," she looked over at Darrien, and he tried to avoid eye contact. "My name is Jane,"

Darrien tried to think of a reply. "Uh...nice to meet you?"

Jane made a sort of sound that was almost a laugh, and Sally began singing a song to herself. Darrien caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror, and he grimaced.

 _"Please let me come out of this alive,"_ he prayed mentally as Jane gave him directions.

The sun was setting as the car sped off.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The other room and the Griffin's eye

 **Warning: LONG CHAPTER IS LOOOONG**

A cat shaped clock ticked on the wall before Darrien, and he wondered how long he'd been here.

The clock seemed a bit off, and the hands were impossible to read due to the dust and dirt that gathered there. Something about the clock was comforting, though, despite the current circumstances.

Jane had led him to a seemingly abandoned house in the middle of practically nowhere, and after letting him inside, she set Sally down in front of the TV and went off to prepare some coffee. The house was awful, and the only room of good quality was the kitchen (which Darrien had only gotten a glimpse of before Jane shooed him out and told him to wait), and he was currently in the living room with Sally, the TV, and some strange looking person in a blue mask who was sleeping on the floor. Darrien didn't dare try to wake him, for he was afraid of what would happen if he did. Sally seemed to have forgotten him, and she'd pulled a bag of store bought, cheddar cheese popcorn out of a nearby cabinet and had begun snacking on it while watching cartoons. Darrien tried to ignore his companions, and he began to think of a way to escape without anybody seeing him.

Before he could make a run for the door, Jane entered with a coffee pot, some cups, and some little sandwiches on a tray. As she set the tray down on the coffee table, Darrien got the courage to ask about what was happening.

"C-could you just tell me why I'm here?"

Jane nodded. "In a minute, just be patient," She turned to the masked person sleeping on the floor. "Jack? Would you like some coffee?" She held the cup near his face. "Here,"

He lay motionless for a few seconds, then he sat up slowly. He inhaled a few times, raised his hand and smacked the coffee cup away. "Fuck off!" He snapped, standing up and walking away.

Jane said nothing as she stared at the spilled coffee. After a few seconds, she picked up one of the sandwiches and followed after Jack. "Won't you at least have a sandwich if you're gonna storm off? It's liverwurst,"

Jack stopped, turned around and took the sandwich. As he walked away, Jane came and sat beside Darrien.

"Okay," she began, pouring herself some coffee. "You live at Deadly Gardens, right?"

Darrien's brow furrowed. "How'd you know?"

"I know a lot of things," Jane explained, handing a coffee cup to Darrien. "I watch a lot of TV, and I eavesdrop. I do that a lot. Now, I need you to describe to me what your apartment looks like,"

Darrien thought for a moment. "Well...it's a basement floor, meaning it's underground. There's four bedrooms and a kitchen,"

Jane took this all in. "Okay, got it. And is there another basement room?"

"Well, yeah. But it's sealed off and locked from everyone else,"

"And why is that?" Jane inquired. "Did something happen there?"

"Yeah. I think some rich lady killed her husband or something,"

Jane snapped her fingers, startling Darrien. "Right. Not any rich lady, though. Eris Hall,"

Darrien nodded. "Right, her. Why is this important?"

Jane went quiet for a few seconds, and she pulled out a pen and notepad. As she began to sketch two basement floors, she continued. "Are you sure there's nobody living in that room?"

"Of course I'm sure,"

"Are you sure?" She asked again, her voice low and serious. "I want you to be sure. Think about it,"

Darrien thought through everything he knew about that room, and then it hit him. "Oh...wait,"

"Yes?"

"I do remember...something," there was a pause, and Darrien continued. "When I first moved there, there was a night when a heard some kind of banging while I was in the kitchen. It was on the other side of the wall, but when I called one of the staff members about it, he just said it was the pipes, and I believed him,"

"But it wasn't the pipes," Jane cut in. "It was the secret that Sonata's hiding for years, now,"

She got up and went to a filing cabinet in the corner of the room, and she chose two files. When she returned, she threw the files down on the coffee table before Darrien.

"The two suspicious characters I have information about in these files may be living in that room," Jane explained, opening up both files and presenting the contents. "And I have reason to believe that they're linked to your daughter's disappearance,"

Darrien looked in both the files, and his eyes widened with horror. "I...I don't believe it. What makes you think they're at Deadly Gardens!?"

Jane turned away for a moment to drink her coffee. As she did this, she lifted up her mask for better access, and Darrien caught a glimpse of her scarred and burned skin.

"I've seen them around that area," She stated, setting down her cup. "And your child's disappearance can't just be a coincidence,"

Darrien looked back down, and he bit down on his lip. As he rested his head in his hand, Jane reached out and touched his shoulder gently.

"Look, we don't know everything that happened. She may still be alive and well, and when it comes to small kids, Jeff doesn't usually..." She trailed off, and pulled away. "But, look. I'm gonna help you, okay? I want these kids to be safe as much as you do,"

The TV turned to static, and Sally changed the channel to the music video channel. Loud rap music began blaring, and Jack dashed in with a bottle of shoe polish in hand. He stumbled around aimlessly, turned to the direction of the noise, and tossed the bottle in the TV's direction. " _SHUT UP! SHUT YOUR FAT FACE!"_

He missed and hit the cat clock instead, and as the bottle burst and the clock shattered, Jane shouted, "Jack! I just bought that shoe polish!"

As she began bickering with the blind man, Darrien decided it was time to go.

A week went by, and the search still was not fruitful.

Valentine, however, tried to stave off any anxiety he felt about the case and moved in to his new mobile home by the lake. He wasn't going to stay long, for he knew his babies were going to come very soon- he could just feel it.

But the babies weren't a primary concern at the moment, for after he'd moved all of his things into the little house, Valentine had an idea of what he wanted to spend his time with. If his mother wasn't going to tell him anything about his father, then he was going to look for answers from the Internet.

One thing Valentine did know was that his father was a general in some war years ago, but Vampira had only mentioned it once. This information proved to be useful, as quite a few results appeared when Valentine searched, "General Erin, vampire war".

Yet, all the sources gave the same amount of info: Erin appeared to the Vampire City (which was underground due to hunters) and urged the vampires to rebel against the humans who were trying to invade their home and destroy the race. He wouldn't discuss where he came from, and all he said was that he'd been raised by human parents who had died just days before. He helped build an army, which then led to the vampires getting an above-ground city near the human village, but only under the condition that the vampires did not attack any humans. After the triumph, Erin married Vampira, but was soon exiled due to an 'unnamed taboo'. Nothing else was found.

"It was worth a shot," Valentine sighed in defeat at the results, and he was about to close his laptop when something caught his eye. It was a link to instructions for something called a, "Griffin's eye", which claimed to have the ability to look into the past of the user's family. The thought was tempting, and soon Valentine found himself clicking the link.

The Griffin's eye was a sort of homemade candle, made with table salt, olive oil, a strand of the user's hair, and of course, a bit of thin rope for the wick. Valentine was able to collect all these things (the hair was no problem, as his hair was quite long and easy to pull out), and soon he found himself waiting for the candle to dry.

"It might not work," he muttered to himself. "Maybe it's a practical joke or something,"

The timer beeped, and he checked the jar where he'd put it all to see of it was totally frozen. It was, and he took it into his room to continue the process.

The instructions then said to light the Griffin's eye, think about what the user wished to know, and then go to sleep. As Valentine lit the candle, he thought about his father, his family, and everything else he needed clarity on. He lay down on the bed as he watched the wick burn, and one of the babies gave him a rather hard kick.

"Stop that!" He hissed quietly. "I need to sleep for this!"

After a few minutes, his eyelids began to get heavy, and he welcomed sleep.

It was as if a movie began to play, and a beautiful landscape came into view. The sun was setting, and it cast a shadow against a rocky cave near the sea. Four figures treaded along the beach, and they entered the cave.

The tallest one, the leader of the group, knocked upon a pair of heavy doors in the cave. There was a pause, and the doors opened slowly. The leader made a gesture with his hand, and they all entered. Inside was a couldron, a few shelves filled with scrolls and bottles, and a large desk. An old, grayhaired woman peeked out at the group with large eyes, and she went back behind the desk.

"Just a moment!" She stated, and she soon came back out. She shuffled as she walked, and she looked up at the vampires with a toothy grin. "What can I help you with, nobles of the Vampire City?"

The leader, a tall and strong vampire with a head of dark hair, stepped forward, assuming his authority.

"Mistress Zelda," he began, his voice deep. "We have a problem that is in need of your fixing,"

Mistress Zelda flicked her hand. "Well, go on, Lord Nosferatu! What is the trouble?"

"The humans," Nosferatu seethed, his anger returning. "They were too clever. While we were out hunting, they went to our home in the valley. They killed off all of the wives and a few children. When we returned, they forced us out. We live underground now, but we are worried. The only surviving females are children, none of which have matured yet. A need to reproduce,"

Zelda did a laugh. "Reproduce? Oh, darling! You vampires are immortal creatures. Why reproduce? You have no need for replacements!"

"But we do," another vampire in the group, a small blonde, stepped up. "What if there is a plague? What if the humans come back? We need to carry on the race,"

The old woman tapped her chin, falling silent. She spoke after a few moments. "How old is the oldest girl?"

"The oldest girl is my daughter, Elizabeth," The blonde vampire spoke once again. "She is eight years old,"

Zelda sighed. "Not good, not good at all," she went quiet once more, but a smile spread across her wrinkled face. "May I ask a rather...personal question, my lord?"

Nosferatu nodded. "You may ask anything, Zelda,"

She couldn't stop grinning, and her eyes flickered to each of her guests. "Are any of you homosexuals by any chance?"

Various noises of disgust rose up from the group, and Noseferatu crossed his arms angrily. "My God, Zelda! That was not a necessary question! Homosexuality is a taboo, as is incest!"

Zelda laughed. "You are funny creatures! My lord, you must consider this thing you call a 'taboo' as a means of survival,"

"What are you on about?" Nosferatu asked in an irritated fashion. "Men cannot bear children with other men!"

Zelda simply snickered, and she rushed to her shelves. There was some clicking as she collecting a few potions in glass bottles, and she rushed to her couldron and poured each liquid in. She muttered a chant, and there was a gust of wind. The wind was strong, and it ruffled the hair and clothing of the vampires. Noseferatu looked up in confusion.

"What was-"

He stopped suddenly, and he slowly reached his hand down to his groin area. His hand came back up with a strange slickness, and he looked down to see a dark spot of blood staining his clothing. Cries rose up from the group as the others began bleeding as well, but Mistress Zelda just grinned all the while.

"What is happening!?" Noseferatu demanded to know. "Why are we bleeding!? What have you done!?"

Zelda batted her eyelashes innocently. "Why, my lord! This is just your menstrual period!"

There was a long pause, and Noseferatu drew his sword. "I should kill you!" He snapped, baring his fangs at Zelda. "You shall not spit these wicked lies, you slattern!"

His threats did not phase Zelda, and she howled with laughter. "You should be thanking me! From this day forth, every male vampire will have the ability to bear children, just as females do. Now," she grinned and made a little motion with her hand. "Follow the words of God: be fruitful and multiply!"

The scene then began to change, and it switched to a later time. It was now focusing on the underground Vampire City, where some little children danced and played in a circle. Watching from afar was Nosferatu, who looked at the children with a bit of contempt. The blonde vampire from earlier walked up at this moment, balancing a toddler on his hip.

"What is the problem, Nosferatu?" The vampire inquired.

Noseferatu growled low at him. "None of your concern, Mercutio. Go tend to your sons,"

Mercutio was silent, then he sat beside his friend. "Have you not mated yet, my friend?"

"Why would I?" Noseferatu snorted. "Should I become a brood mare, like you have? I think not! Mistress Zelda's blessing is more of a curse!"

"Do not speak those harsh words!" Mercutio pleaded. "'Tis a blessing for me! My sons are the Lord's gifts to David and I, and I shall never give them up!"

Noseferatu stood up suddenly. "Then you let David push his plow in your field if that is what you desire. I, however, will find a wife for myself,"

Mercutio looked up in surprise. "Where shall you find a wife? Surely not from the human village,"

"A human woman is not what I desire," Noseferatu pulled out a small scroll, revealing a portrait of a woman. "My heart seeks the Demi-goddess Diana. I intend to make her my wife,"

"Have you gone mad!?" Mercutio demanded to know. "You wish to marry Diana? Her human followers will surely kill you!"

"'Tis a risk I shall have to take," Noseferatu began to walk off. "Play with your sons, my friend. I shall return,"

There was yet another swift change of scene, and this time, Noseferatu was walking up to a large castle. He pushed the huge doors open and walked briskly inside, drawing his sword.

There sat a woman who looked as if no man could ever deserve her. Her beauty was stunning, and it became quite clear that she knew she was beautiful. She sat upon her throne, brushing her long, silvery hair in delicate strokes, and she sighed as Noseferatu came into view.

"Oh, fie," she stretched lazily. "Oh, me. What business have you here?"

Noseferatu bowed low in respect. "I am the vampire lord, and I have come to make you my wife,"

Diana let out a laugh, and she set her brush down. "Then, what is holding you back, my good man?" she rose up out of the throne, extending her arms. "Come and claim me!"

She suddenly transformed into a flying horse, and she soared up towards the castle's high ceiling. Nosferatu simply smirked, and he dropped his sword and changed into his bat form.

The winged horse squealed suddenly as the bat attacked her face, and she took a nosedive. It became a chase between two flying creatures, and it was over when the horse slammed into a rack of scrolls and collapsed, changing into her Demi-goddess form. Noseferatu changed back after landing, and he strode over to where Diana lay in a heap.

With a strong grip, he yanked her up by the hair to look at him, and she made a sort of "Oh!" sound when she realized he'd beaten her.

"Now," Noseferatu smiled triumphantly. "Will you be my wife?"

Diana stared at him, open mouthed and panting, and she whispered, "Oh, yes, my lord!"

With a grin, Noseferatu leaned down and opened his mouth wide. He bit down on her neck and claimed her as his own, while she weakened under his power. After a moment, he stood up and took her hand, grabbing his sword and leading her out of the castle.

There was yet another shift to years later, and it was back in the Vamipre City. Diana stood outside the hut, watching two little girls play in the dirt a few feet away from her. The smaller girl suddenly picked up a beetle and tried to shove it in her mouth, and Diana, noticing, ran up to stop her.

"Sonata, my dear girl!" She swatted the beetle away. "Why do you eat bugs when there is plenty of bread and fish inside?"

"I wanted to see what it would taste like, Mama," the young Sonata said innocently. "I like new things,"

The older girl crossed her arms at her sister. "That is a lie! Elizabeth told her that if she ate a beetle, she would get a dress the same color as the shell!"

"Why, Sonata, that is the most ridiculous thing I ever heard!" Diana scolded her younger daughter. "Why would you believe such a thing?"

Sonata pouted. "Vampira is lying, Mama! I would never believe such a thing!"

Before Diana could continue her scolding, Noseferatu approached. "You best not be troubling your mother," he said in a stern voice.

The girls fell silent, and they backed a way a bit. "We were not, father," young Vampira assured. "Honest, we were not,"

Noseferatu gave a glare, then he turned to his wife. "Come inside," he said quietly, and they went into the hut together, leaving the girls outside.

When the door closed, Vampira walked up cautiously and put her ear near the window to listen.

"Mistress Zelda says you will give birth to a son," Noseferatu was saying. "But he will dishonor the family,"

"Dishonor?" Diana inquired anxiously. "But how?"

"Her prophecy says that he will kill his sister's first husband and then marry his sister himself," Noseferatu explained. There was a pause, and he continued. "To spare our family name of the taboo that is incest, we must send him away when he is born,"

Diana gasped. "Oh, Noseferatu! Do not do this!"

"We will not kill him," he assured her. "We will send him away to live with some human shepards. They are friendly towards vampires, and they will care for him. We must spare our family name,"

Vampira pulled away from the window, tears rolling down her cheeks. She turned to her sister slowly, seeing her standing there with a worried expression.

"Vampira?" Sonata asked softly. "What is the matter?"

Vampira said nothing, and she simply put an arm around her sister. They stood there in silence, and then the scene changed again.

This time, it was clear that the Vampire War had already happened, for the city was on the surface, now. Vampira, now an adult, stood with Sonata near a firepit with some meat roasting over the flames. Vampira stared at the meat without interest as Sonata, who was currently pregnant, chattered on about her visit to the medic.

"The medic suspects twins! Can you believe it? Benjamin is thrilled, and he hopes that they are both boys," she scratched her stomach gently. "But, Mistress Zelda says something about one of them is...well, strange. One has a destructive future, as she says,"

"I refuse to believe any word out of that wretch's mouth," Vampira stated, quite bitter over something. "She is nothing but a poor fool, now. She does not have much longer to live, I imagine,"

There was a clatter from the house behind them, and a drunken male vampire stumbled out.

"Vampira!" He snapped, glaring at her. "Get inside this very instant!"

Reluctantly, Vampira left the fire and went inside. However, both of them neglected to completely close the door.

"Yes, Ramine?" Vampira asked, but she was answered with a punch to the face.

"You worthless creature!" Ramine yelled as she fell to the floor. "What do I have a wife for if she cannot bear children!?"

Vampira stumbled to her feet. "Do not blame me, Ramine!"

He got her by the neck, baring his fangs at her. "I will blame you! You are suppose to serve me, woman!"

Suddenly, there was a crash, and in dashed a younger male vampire. "Do not lay a hand on your wife, Ramine!"

Ramine hissed at the intruder, and the two broke into a tussle. Vampira stepped out of the way in surprise as the two fought, and the younger male soon smashed Ramine's head on the stone wall. Ramine went limp and collapsed, and a dealy silence followed.

"Oh, general Erin," Vampira gasped out, clasping her hands on her chest. "I do believe you've killed him,"

Erin looked down, and he bent down to look at Ramine. After some quiet, he looked back at Vampira. "I can convince your father that it was for a good reason," he then extended a hand to Vampira. "Shall I marry you, now?"

Vampira let out a little chortle. "I suppose I have to, now,"

He gently took her hand, and the two left the house silently.

There was another change, and it showed Noseferatu sitting at a desk with a few scrolls. Beside him was his friend Mercutio and Mercutio's two sons. They were quietly discussing new laws that needed passing when the door slammed open rather loudly, startling them.

It was Mistress Zelda, who promptly threw Erin to the floor before the four vampires.

"I knew it!" Zelda cackled. "I knew the prophecy would come true!"

Noseferatu stood up and went to Erin, who was a sobbing heap on the floor. "What do you mean!?" Noseferatu asked, looking up at Zelda with an angered expression.

Zelda grinned. "Your son killed his brother in law and married his sister! This was inevitable, my friend!"

Erin looked up at Noseferatu with tear-filled eyes. "Forgive me, my lord! I did not know she was my sister!"

As Zelda laughed triumphantly, Noseferatu fell silent. After a moment, he shook his head slowly. "You broke our law," he stated, his voice quivering. "We must abide by our laws," he looked down at Erin, and he took him by the hand and helped him stand up. "Erin, you must be exiled,"

"No!" Erin cried out. "Vampira is about to give birth! Please, father-"

Noseferatu struck him on the cheek. "Do not call me father!" He snapped, holding back his tears. "Leave already! Please, son, I do not wish to look at you,'

Erin lingered for a moment, then he turned around and stormed out, the tears streaming down his face. As the door banged shut, Zelda laughed once more.

"Farewell, my lord!" She giggled. "Treat your kingdom well!" And with that, she vanished.

Noseferatu stood there in total silence, until Mercutio came and tapped his shoulder.

"My lord-" he began, but Noseferatu raised a hand to silence him.

"I cannot do this anymore," Noseferatu's voice dripped with sadness and remorse. "I have just banished my own son," he turned to Mercutio. "Mercutio, you must rule, now,"

Mercutio gasped in surprise. "Are you sure!?"

"My bloodline will forever be tainted by this taboo," Noseferatu sighed, removing his jewelry. "Carry on, and rule this land with your sons, Joseph and Stoker,"

With that statement, he left the room, never to rule again.

The scene shifted one last time, and it showed Vampire lying on a cot, writhing in agony while a medic tried to keep her still.

"Still yourself, dear Vampira!" The medic said, trying to do her job. "Just keep pushing! Push hard! Your baby is almost out!"

Vampira strained, and then she fell limp and began to sob. "He was my brother!" She lamented. "Oh, now my first two children are dead due to our mistake! This one will be dead, too! God forgive me!"

Sonata entered at this time, with her two toddlers at her side. "Has she not given birth yet?"

Before the medic could answer, Vampira let out a loud gasp and fell back down on the cot. There was a pause, and then the soft whimpering of a baby became present in the air. The medic looked down in surprise, and she gathered the child in her arms and began to look it over.

"You have a son," she stated finally, cleaning him off with a rag and twisting the cord off. "However, his heartbeat is irregular. It seems as though only one half works,"

Sonata shook her head. "Then he will die like the others. It is hopeless, Vampira,"

"No!" Vampira spoke up, sitting up the best she could. "Please, what will help him?"

The medic thought for a moment. "Well," she said finally. "There is...something that could help, but it costs several gold pieces,"

"I will do it!" Vampira said without a moment's hesitation. "I will do whatever it takes!"

The medic nodded, and she selected a large vial filled with a pink liquid. She pried the baby's mouth open and poured the liquid in, and she made sure he swallowed every drop.

"You must make sure he is not put under excessive stress," the medic warned, handing the baby off to Vampira. "Watch him carefully,"

Vampira nodded, roughly wiping the tears from her eyes. "I will do everything in my power to protect my son," she brought the baby up and kissed him lovingly. "My sweet little Kieran! I will always protect you, my son. God forgive me for the danger I put you in!"

And then suddenly, it all went dark.

Valentine awoke to find that there were tears in his eyes, but he didn't know why they were there. He sat up, swallowing hard and thinking over everything he'd seen. As he wiped at his eyes, he knew what he had to do.

He reached for his phone to call his mother.

 **THIS IS SO LONG OH MY GOD (that's what she said)**

 **This is probably the longest chapter ever! Can you stand it? I hope it's interesting enough...**

 **So, I've started school once again, and I'm auditioning for another play. Therefore, I may not be posting as much. Just an FYI!**

 **Questions, comments, or theories? Let me know in your review!**

 **See you next time, fellow monstebrhhdihejebebjeI'm going to bed**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13:

The Computer

It was a rainy afternoon when Jackson, Clawd, Clawdeen and Heath were all called to go look around at Deadly Gardens by Vixen Love. When they arrived, however, there wasn't much to do, since they'd looked just about everywhere. Reluctantly, they continued the wild goose chase that had been going on for the past seven months and walked around the old apartment complex once again.

Yet, it was this time that Jackson noticed a rather strange portrait up on the wall outside Sonata's room. The portrait was of a woman who looked much like Eris, and she was wearing a luxurious gown while sitting on a window ledge with a finely dressed man. At their feet was a large husky dog, who was decorated with many ribbons. Something about the whole picture was just odd, and Jackson couldn't help but study it to find out what was wrong.

He jolted a bit when Sonata's door opened, and Sonata herself walked out. She noticed Jackson, and she stopped to talk to him.

"Fond of that picture?" She inquired, getting closer to him.

Jackson nodded, slightly uncomfortable. "It's a lovely portrait. Tell me- who is it of?"

"My daughter, Eris, and her second husband, Rueben," She sighed sadly, reaching up and stroking the image of her daughter with her fingers. "Aye, my poor daughter. Taken by someone else's foolishness,"

Jackson knew she was wrong about what actually happened, but he didn't bother to correct her. "Who is Rueben?"

"He was the son of a colleague of mine," Sonata explained. "My daughter's first husband ran away, so he took her hand and married her. Poor Rueben, he died in an accident, along with his faithful dog, Sharp Tooth. Eris was devastated, poor thing,"

"Didn't she kill him?" Jackson asked, and Sonata quickly denied this.

"Goodness, no! Eris loved Rueben dearly. She never could stand that dog, though,"

Jackson studied the picture for a few more seconds, and then he turned to see that Sonata was staring very intently at him. This startled him. "Um, everything okay?"

"You're Jekyll's boy, aren't you?" She asked, looking with incredible interest.

"Oh, well, he's my great grandfather, actually,"

Sonata did a laugh. "Of course, silly me! I worked closely with your great grandfather, you see? He always...intrigued me,"

Jackson quirked an eyebrow. "How so?"

"Well," she sighed. "I always liked the idea of dual personalities. Especially after my daughters began sharing a body, I was fascinated by the thought of two minds in one body," she leaned a little closer, a grin spreading on her face. "Tell me, do you have another self?"

"I-I do. His name is Holt, and he's more like my brother than anything else,"

Sonata nodded understandingly. "I see...I'll keep you in mind, my dear,"

As she strode down the hallway to the elevator, Jackson felt as though something deeper was going on.

On the same floor, Clawdeen was sniffing around to try and catch a scent. She'd done the before and not gotten wind of anyone important, but this time she smelled something wolf-like.

"Another wolf?" She muttered aloud, for this apartment complex was full of vampires. What was a wolf doing there?

Clawdeen followed the smell with interest until she came to a supply closet. She glanced into the closet, only to find that the wolf she'd caught wind of was not a wolf at all, but a husky dog. The husky had its back to Clawdeen, and it was pulling a discarded bag of fast food out of the garbage can. Clawdeen snarled quietly in annoyance and walked off. If she'd stayed a moment longer, she would have seen the dog turn its head towards her to reveal large, human-like teeth, and she would have heard it mutter, "Hey, cutie,"

As Clawdeen made her way down the hallway, the door to another room opened, and Fran stepped out to collect her mail. She caught Clawdeen's eye right away, and Clawdeen went to her.

"Hey, Fran! Have I talked to you yet?"

Fran startled a bit. "Oh...hi there. Clawdeen, right?"

Clawdeen nodded. "That's me. Have we spoken about the missing girls yet?"

Fran looked a bit nervous. "Um, no. I don't think so,"

"Can I come in? Maybe we can talk,"

There was a pause, and Fran opened her door slowly. "You can't stay for very long, though. My husband will be coming back soon, and I have a feeling he won't be in a good mood,"

It took a few seconds for what Fran had said to sink in. "Husband? You're married, Fran?" Clawdeen inquired with surprise. Fran seemed awfully young to be married.

Fran nodded as she and Clawdeen sat down at the kitchen table. "Yeah. I got married a little over a year ago," she took a picture down from the nearby mantel and showed her companion. The picture was of Fran standing by a chapel window in a long, beautiful white gown. Her brown hair was curled into ringlets, but she looked sad.

"That dress is beautiful," Clawdeen remarked. "Who made it?"

"Oh, I don't know," Fran sighed, putting the picture back. "It was a rental,"

Clawdeen folded her hands on the table, ready to talk. "What can you tell me about the girls?"

Fran thought for a second. "Well, I knew Rowan a little better than Victoria. Victoria was always kinda stand-offish, but Rowan loved to play with me. Hide and seek was her favorite,"

Clawdeen took this all in. "Okay, okay...did either of them talk about running away?"

"No," Fran shook her head. "Except, I'm sure Rowan thought about it. Her parents never really paid any attention to her. They could never just sit on the floor and play with her,"

The door handle began to turn, and Fran gasped. "Oh, he's here! Quick, go in the bathroom!"

"Why?" Clawdeen asked, but Fran just shoved her away.

"Just do it!" She hissed, and Clawdeen did as she was told.

As Clawdeen ducked into the little bathroom, she kept the door open just a crack so she could see who it was. It was Jeffery, the janitor, who the group had never heard speak.

"You're here early," Fran remarked, sounding a bit nervous.

Jeffery nodded. "Not much to do. Dog got in the trash again,"

Something about the way Jeffery talked was...odd. It was almost as if his mouth didn't fit, like it was too small.

"You left it on," Fran told him, pointing to his face.

Clawdeen's curiosity peaked. Left what on?

"Oh," he reached to his forehead and pulled, and his face peeled right off, revealing his real skin to be cracked and white. His eyes were round and unblinking, and Clawdeen soon realized why he talked so strangely: his actual mouth was much wider and sliced at the corners.

As Clawdeen turned away and tried to stifle her gag of disgust, the conversation outside continued.

"Jeff," Fran's voice shook. "Jeff, can we talk?"

He opened the fridge and began to dig through it. "What?"

Fran took a deep breath and gathered her courage. "Jeff...I'm pregnant again,"

He stopped, and he set a can of soda on the table with a thud. "No," he shook his head slowly. "No, no, no. We need to get rid of it,"

"Jeff, please!" Fran's voice sounded strained. "Let's go back to my father's home, to my village! We can live there in peace with our baby! Sonata will never find out why we left," when Jeff stayed silent, Fran went on. "There's a doctor there who works miracles, he can restore your mind, fix your face! Please-"

Jeff suddenly struck her in the face, making her stumble backwards. "I don't want my face to be fixed! I'm perfect! Shut your whore mouth! We're not going anywhere!"

Fran crept to a corner of the kitchen and cowered there. "I'm sorry. I-I shouldn't have said anything!"

"Damn right!" Jeff snarled clenching his fist. "You know better than to talk to me like that. Now, we're getting an abortion, 'cause I don't need no damn brats running around her. Okay?"

Fran began to sob. "Oh, Jeff! Can't I just have the baby this once?"

"No!" He snapped, striking her once more. "What did I tell you!? If you pop that thing out, you're gonna bitch and moan about wanting to keep it, and we know what will happen if you do that,"

When Fran's cries didn't cease, he pulled out a knife and raised it to her. "You think I'm ugly, dear?" He cooed, grabbing her by the neck and holding her in place. "Let's see how ugly I am when you look just like me!"

This was all Clawdeen could take, and she burst out of the bathroom with a howl. "Leave her alone!" She leapt on to Jeff, taking him down and pinning him to the floor. Jeff acted quickly, however, and he brought his head up and smashed Clawdeen in the mouth, making her yelp. He scrambled out from beneath her, grabbing her by the hair and pulling her up. He then seized her neck and pressed the knife against it.

"You gotta be careful, Wolfie!" He growled, pushing her up against the wall. "You wanna die today?"

Fran tried to pry him off. "Jeff, she has nothing to do with this!" When he ignored her, she snatched a knife out of a drawer, rolled down her sleeve and pressed the knife into the skin of her arm. "If you kill her, I'll kill myself!"

Jeff stopped in his tracks, and he released Clawdeen gently. He turned to Fran with a glare, and a snarl escaped his throat. "Okay, whatever," he turned back to Clawdeen, and he began to move away slowly. "Leave now, Lassie," and he disappeared into a nearby room.

When Fran dropped the knife and began to weep bitterly, Clawdeen went to her and grabbed her shoulder. "Fran, we need to go! You need to go! He's abusing you,"

"No!" Fran sobbed, covering her face. "I can't!"

"Why can't you?" Clawdeen tried to look her in the eyes, but she kept covering her face. "There are organizations and places that can help people like you! Come on-"

" _NO!"_ Fran lifted her face, revealing streaks of blood trailing down her cheeks from her eyes. "Get out!"

Clawdeen started, then dashed out as Fran cried and lamented to herself in the dirty kitchen.

On a separate floor (specifically, Gory and Bram's floor), Heath and Clawd were busy walking around. When they ran into each other once more, Heath let out an exasperated sigh.

"This is impossible!" He exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. "What are we gonna do!? These girls just dropped off the face of the Earth!"

Clawd shook his head. "I don't get it either, but I just have a feeling that they're alive somewhere," he looked towards the art closet, and pointed to it. "Isn't that the closet where Icer saw that man?"

Heath nodded. "Yeah, why?"

The memory of the interaction with Jeff flashed across Clawd's mind, and couldn't help but shudder slightly. "Well...do you think we could look around in there?"

Heath looked at his friend quizzically. "Why? Clawdeen already looked around in there,"

"I know, but maybe we should search around a bit more,"

There was a silence, and Heath headed for the closet with a sigh. "Okay, whatever,"

After opening the door and switching the light on, the two began to look around the closet.

"Geez, no wonder Icer was in here," Heath muttered, looking at a set of paints. "This is a dream come true for him,"

Clawd looked through a box of art scalpels, but then he noticed something that made his heart race. "Hey, uh...Heath?" He nudged the fire elemental to get his attention. "Do you see that?"

Heath looked up from the paints. "See wha-?" He noticed, and his mouth fell open. "Uh...has that always been there?"

It was a door, right at the back of the closet. A thin curtain had been draped over it, but someone had forgotten to put it back in its original place.

Heath and Clawd exchanged a nervous glance, and they headed for the door. Upon turning the handle, Clawd discovered that the door was unlocked, and a knot of anxiety began to grow in his gut.

"Maybe we shouldn't go in," Clawd said nervously, but Heath shook his head.

"No, we need to,"

The door squeaked open, and they went in.

It was a small room, covered wall to wall with newspaper clippings and photographs. In the corner was an old TV and a stack of VHS tapes, and right in the center was a large chair at a computer desk. The desk was complete with a microphone and a speaker system.

"Whoa!" Heath exclaimed as the two went in. "What goes on here, I wonder?"

They first began to examine the clippings on the wall, only to find that they were about the disappearances of people or the discoveries of dead bodies. The first of the clippings were in this order:

" _Mother, Father, and son found dead in home. Younger son missing"_

 _"Body of Sally Williams found at local park; Suspect still on the loose"_

 _"Young boy's body found at lakeside. Possibly drowned"_

 _"Ominous Killer still at large"_

And then, farther down on the wall were two much older and much more wrinkled clippings. One was from a newspaper, but the other looked to be from a memorial service. The newspaper clipping read: " _Body of Rueben Hall found beneath apartment floor boards with beloved dog. Charges against his widow have been dropped."_

The memorial service pamphlet went a bit differently, but it was just as unsettling: " _In loving memory of young Francine. May you no longer suffer, but rejoice with your parents in heaven. Goodnight, sweet angel."_

Heath noticed something at the bottom left of the pamphlet, and he grimaced. "Hey, isn't this for that girl, Fran? You know, the maid?"

Clawd looked it over. "Yeah, looks like her, only much younger. Do you think she faked her own death?"

"I don't know, but..." Heath pointed to what he saw at the bottom. "This is from 1944. Fran is a teenager,"

There was a rather painful pause, and then Clawd took notice of the computer. "Hey, there's some kind of security program up on the computer. Did you see?"

Heath looked as well, and he went to the computer to investigate. The screen was split into four sections: the first being called 'CELL #1', the second being called 'CELL#2' , the third 'LAB #1' and the last 'LAB #2'. Cell #1 was focusing on a dark room, where the only light was a dim TV. Cell #2 was pointing to a kitchen table that was covered in various crafts and toys, and the last two were laboratories that had similar layouts: large tables, collections of chemicals and potions, and microscopes.

As Clawd and Heath studied the images, a message popped up at the bottom on the screen. It was from someone called, 'BEN', and all it said was, _"What do you think of what's happening?"_

When Heath's hand went to the mouse to click on the message, Clawd grabbed his wrist.

"What are you doing!?" He hissed at his friend. "You can't answer that!"

"I just want to look!" Heath protested, but he didn't get the chance.

Another message appeared. _"I'll tell them you've been snooping."_

There was a deadly silence, and then Heath stood up quickly. "I don't like this. We gotta go!"

Before either of them could leave, though, the screen changed to a shot of a lake. It was a video, for the waves moved regularly, and a figure became present in the water. Slowly but surely, a young boy emerged out of the waves and began to move towards the camera. He got closer, and closer, and closer, until his face was right up on the screen. At this point, Clawd grabbed Heath by the shoulder.

"Heath, we gotta go!"

They rushed out, but just before they left, Heath decided to take a glance back at the computer. What he saw made him run even faster.

A slimy, pale hand had broken through the screen and was reaching around, looking for the intruders.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14:

The Dice are Cast

Darrien's car pulled into the rocky driveway of the seemingly abandoned house, and he nearly leapt out of the driver's side. As he walked up to the front door, he filed through his notes one more time to make sure they were all in order, and he raised his hand to knock.

The person who answered was a young man Darrien hadn't seen at his first visit. This man was rather tall, with long brown hair and brown eyes. He had scars on his cheek, neck, and on his hand, too, and Darrien found this rather jarring.

When the man didn't say anything, Darrien cleared his throat.

"Excuse me, is Jane here?"

There was a pause, and the man inquired in a soft voice, "Why?"

"Well, we've been working to find my daughter, and-" Darrien stopped, and sighed. "Just...could you get Jane and tell her that Darrien is here?"

The man went quiet again, and he opened the door a little wider and motioned for Darrien to enter.

Jane was on the couch in nothing but a raggedy bathrobe, and on the floor in front of her were Sally and Jack. Jack was awake this time, and he was eating a bowl of some kind of strange mush while Sally watched the television.

When Darrien entered, Jane sat up quickly and adjusted her bathrobe to appear more modest. "I didn't expect you to come back!"

"Neither did I," Darrien admitted, sitting down and handing over the notes. "But I found out something,"

"Oh,yeah?" Jane asked, flipping through the notes. "What's that?"

"There must be some kind of secret passageway into that other room," Darrien explained. "The only entrance that we thought existed was the door in my kitchen, and that's locked and painted over. So, there must be some other kind of way to get in, but where?"

Jane took it all in, and she thought for a moment. "Well," she said finally. "What's right above the basement apartments?"

"The lobby, the staff kitchen, and the elevator," Darrien said quickly. "The elevator only goes to my home, but not the other basement apartment,"

Jane got a pen off of the nearby table, and she began to sketch a drawing on her notepad. "Okay...so, that means there's probably another entrance somewhere,"

Darrien thought long and hard about this. "Do you think there could be one in the staff kitchen?"

"Maybe," Jane tapped her pen on the table thoughtfully. "Is the lobby carpeted?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Check underneath the carpeting, if you can. There may be a door hidden somewhere," She got up, setting the notepad off to the side. "I'm gonna go get changed. Wait here,"

As she walked out, the young man who'd answered the door entered the room and sat down beside Darrien, not making eye contact. The young man looked down at Jack and made a face. "Do you have to eat that in here?"

Jack turned to the man and acted like he was going to fling the strange substance at him, and the man recoiled in disgust.

"What is it?" Darrien inquired, only able to pick up the scent of blood.

"It's a liver," the man explained, trying not to look. "Apparently he 'found' it,"

As he stirred the liver around with his fork, Jack began singing. "Eenie, meenie, miney, moe. Catch a fuckboy by his toe. If he hollers, don't let go!"

"Jane told you not to sing that," Sally said rather matter of factly. Jack fell silent, and he took a piece of the liver and waved it in Sally's face. "Eww, I don't want your nasty liver!" Sally squealed, making a face.

"Be an adult, Jack," the young man sighed, picking up a newspaper and pretending to read it.

Jack suddenly became very angry, and he stood up. "Don't tell me what to do, you fuckboy!"

"Stop using that word!" Sally protested, clapping her hands over her ears.

Darrien thought about running towards the door to get away from this argument, but just then Jane walked in. "What's going on!?"

"Liu's being a fuckboy!" Jack snapped, pointing at the man on he couch.

"Jack is using bad words!" Sally screeched, stamping her foot.

Jane sighed, waving them both off. "Jack, stop swearing. Sally, don't yell,"

Jack turned away rather dolefully, finishing up the liver. "Whatever. You're not my mom,"

"You're such a child," Jane groaned, sitting back down on the couch. "Okay. So, we need a plan,"

"For what?" Darrien inquired, rather confused.

Jane got the notepad back out, and she flipped to a new page. "To find a way in that room. Here's what I've got so far," she began to sketch out her idea. "Darrien- you and I will go through the door in your kitchen,"

"But I don't have a key!" Darrien spoke up. "How will we get in?"

Jane thought for a moment. "Got a coat hanger?"

"Yeah?"

"Bingo. That'll do fine," She turned to Sally. "Sally, you'll come in with Liu and distract the staff, while Jack, you take your knife and-"

"Stab them all!?" Jack leapt up excitedly.

Jane flagged him down, rather annoyed. "No! You're gonna tear up the carpeting and look for a door,"

"Oh," he sounded disappointed.

"Wait," Liu spoke up, sounding nervous. "What is it we're doing?"

There was a pause, and Jane cleared her throat. "Well, Liu, Darrien's daughter is missing. They live in Deadly Gardens, and there's a closed off room right next door to Darrien that we think might belong to Slender and..." She trailed off, then took a deep breath. "Your brother,"

Liu was completely silent, then he stood up and began to pace. "No!" He shook his head. "No, forget it! I won't do it!"

"Aww, come on, Liu!" Sally pleaded. "I can't distract those grown ups by myself!"

"Yeah!" Jack spoke up. "Come on, man! Now's your chance for revenge!"

When Liu didn't say anything, Jane stood up and touched his arm. "Liu, come on. You don't even have to interact with him. I can confront him,"

Liu stopped pacing, and his fingers reached up to brush his scars gently. "You promise?"

"Have I ever broken a promise?" Jane laughed, and she turned back to Darrien. "Tomorrow, then?"

Darrien looked up in surprise. "You mean...we're doing this?"

"Yeah!" Jane nodded. "Don't worry, it'll work out,"

As Darrien pulled into his own parking lot, his mind was reeling with a mixture of anxiety, fear, excitement, but hope as well. Maybe this was what would help them find Victoria, and all this mess would be cleared up.

He popped his shoes off by the door and went into the kitchen, staring up at the forbidden door, which could possibly lead to his daughter.

The phone rang, startling him. Darrien answered with a sigh. "Hello?" There was just static, and Darrien was about to hang up, but a muffled voice was heard among the static. "Who is this?"

The static broke briefly, and a little voice croaked, "Daddy?"

Darrien froze, and he gasped. "Victoria! Victoria, baby, it's me! Where are you honey!? Tell me, I'm listening!"

She sounded terrified. "Daddy, he took me through the little door! I'm in a dark room, now,"

"What little door!?" Darrien demanded to know. "Where is the little door!?"

"Behind the bookshelf!"

"What bookshelf!?"

Before she could answer, there was a loud hissing sound, and then silence. The sound of heavy breathing became present, and Darrien suddenly felt the anger that had been welling up inside of him burst out. "Who are you!?" He hissed, his whole body tensing up. "Who are you, and what have you done with my little girl!?"

The breathing halted, and there was a raspy giggle. The call ended, and Darrien burst into tears. Merrill, in the next room, heard his sobs, and she ran to him.

"Darrien!" Merrill rushed in, kneeling beside him. "Oh, my boy, what's the matter!?"

"Victoria's waiting for us, mom!" Darrien sobbed, grabbing a hold of his mother and hugging her tightly. "We gotta find her!"

She stroked his hair gently, and they held each other in that kitchen for several moments.

It was early in the afternoon when Howleen decided she would go clothes shopping with Valentina. Even though Valentina was grounded, Howleen still felt like her daughter needed some new jeans. So, they got in the car and headed out to the Maul.

Valentina did not enjoy shopping for clothes. While most girls did, she found it rather boring and tried to avoid it. She preferred to shop for videogames and books.

Yet, here she was, watching her mother dig through a clearance bin of jeans towards the back of the store. Valentina rolled her eyes as her mother brought up yet another pair.

"Check out this kind," Howleen showed her daughter the brand name. "This is from the company where Clawdeen works! I think we should get it,"

Valentina huffed. "I own a bunch of jeans from her company!"

"One more wouldn't hurt," Howleen stated, putting the pants in the cart.

As her mother kept digging through the clothes, Valentina noticed a nearby rack of jackets, and a bright red leather jacket caught her eye. She was drawn to it right away, and after inspecting it, she slipped it on.

Valentina strutted around, liking the way the jacket looked on her. As she walked past her mother, Howleen took notice, and she sighed.

"Put it back, Tina,"

"But, mom!" Valentina protested, holding the jacket up. "It's from a signature collection! No one else at school will have this!"

Howleen took the jacket and looked it over. "You're ten! Why do you need a leather jacket?"

"Because it's cool! Please, can I have it, mom?"

With a sigh, Howleen placed the jacket back on the rack. "No, Tina. It's too expensive, anyway,"

Valentina was about to yell, but she decided not to. Instead, she just crossed her arms and glared up at her mother. "Dad would buy it for me,"

"No, he wouldn't," Howleen went back to the shopping cart. "Just because your dad has a bunch of money doesn't mean he'll buy any kind of crap for you,"

"The jacket isn't crap," Valentina growled low.

Howleen got her daughter by the hand. "Come on, let's go,"

Later, in the car, the tension worsened when Howleen decided to tell Valentina her plans. "Romulus is joining us for breakfast tomorrow,"

"Why?" Valentina didn't look at her mother. "You gonna marry him or something?"

Howleen didn't answer for a few seconds, then she breathed deeply. "Well, actually..."

Valentina picked up her head and looked at her mother in suprise. "Mom!"

"I thought you liked Romulus! Why are you so upset?"

"What if he tries to replace dad?!"

Howleen gave her daughter a serious look. "You know he'd never do that,"

Valentina turned away again. "Sometimes I think you're trying to replace him,"

"Honey," Howleen sighed as they pulled in the driveway. "Your dad and I never dated anyway,"

"Then why'd you have me?" Valentina stuck out her chin, daring her mother to say more.

"Because,"

"Because why?"

"You wouldn't understand,"

Valentina lost her temper. "What do you mean I wouldn't understand!? Do you think I'm stupid!?"

At this point, Howleen had also just about had it. "All right!" She whipped around to look at her daughter, a wild look of anger in her eyes. "You wanna know so bad!? Someone made your dad rape me! Is that what you wanted to hear!?"

There was a long pause, and Valentina's shaky, little voice broke it. "What does 'rape' mean, mom?"

Howleen chewed on her bottom lip, and a tear rolled down her cheek. She got out of the car, went to the trunk to get the shopping bags, and she went on inside. Valentina's heart sank at the realization that she'd hurt her mother's feelings, and as she went inside, her mind began to go though everything that had happened during the shopping trip.

What a horrible child she had been! Throwing a fit over a jacket! Now, her mother was crying, and Valentina felt as though it was all her fault. Victoria's disappearance, her mother's tears- she was to blame. After dinner, Valentina wept and wept in guilt at what she'd done, but she sat out on the patio to do it. She cried until there were no tears left, and she decided that, the next time she saw her dad, she would ask him to keep her full time, so her mother wouldn't have to put up with her.

Valentina looked up, seeing that the sun was setting. She sniffled and rubbed at her eyes, thinking that it was time to go inside. Before she could, though, she caught an unfamiliar scent.

She froze, and looked around. There was no one to be seen at first, but then, off in the backyard, she saw it: a tall, faceless figure, watching her.

Feeling her heart beating faster, her first thought was to run inside the house, but she remembered that her mother was inside, and she didn't want to put her in danger. Thinking fast, she thought of another way to hide, and she saw the door to the pantry.

Valentina ducked down so then figure would not see her, and she slipped through the door to the pantry, and she tried to close it as quietly as she could. The pantry wasn't big, so she tucked herself behind some pickle jars and stayed there, the sound of her own breathing the only present noise.

A long while passed, and just when she thought it was safe to leave, the door handle to the pantry began jiggling. Valentina stopped in her tracks, and she ducked down even lower in fear, her breathing speeding up.

The handle made a clicking noise, and it broke right off and landed on the floor. Valentina sucked in her breath, grabbing a nearby garden shovel and preparing to defend herself.

She heard the door swing open, and slow, heavy footsteps inched towards where she was hiding. Valentina pressed her eyes shut and whimpered, her whole body shaking. The footsteps came to a halt, and Valentina wondered if maybe she could make a move to escape. She opened her eyes, and she looked around, only to rest her eyes on the intruder, who was right next to her.

He was tall, and the pantry was clearly to low for him. He was stooping down to look at her, and as he reached a hand towards her, Valentina remembered the shovel in her hands. With a screech, she lifted the shovel and whacked the faceless man with it. As he was startled and disoriented by this, Valentina rushed out of the pantry and to the door to the house. Unfortunately, someone was blocking the door to the house.

That someone was another faceless figure, a woman this time, with a sharp black blouse and black hair tied neatly into a bun. She reached a hand towards Valentina's face, and there was a flash of light.

That flash was the last thing Valentina saw before she passed out.

The night arrived, and the clock read '9:00 PM' as little Germaine got her hair brushed for the night.

As she giggled and squirmed, her father held her in place. "Hold still," he told her in a stern yet loving tone.

Felix spit his toothpaste out in the sink, and he looked over at his father. "Is he coming tonight?"

"Most likely," the older vampire sighed, running the brush a few more times through his daughter's hair. "That's why I'm trying to get the two of you in bed so early," he set the brush on the counter. "There we go, Germaine. Felix, get her in bed. He'll be here any minute,"

Felix ushered his little sister to the closet where they slept, and he closed the door firmly. "Okay, Germaine. We gotta go to sleep,"

However, little Germaine wasn't at all sleepy, and she ignored her brother and played with her toy cars instead.

"Germaine," Felix tugged her sleeve, and he was about to get some hot cocoa for her, but he stopped when he heard the door outside open. Germaine heard the door open, too, and she put her ear against the closet door to listen.

"What's that smell?" Fritz was saying, and Germaine pushed the door open just a crack to look at him.

"Germaine!" Felix hissed.

"Oh, I burned some pizza," Their father explained quietly. "I left the stove on. I...wasn't thinking,"

Fritz chuckled as he sat down in a nearby chair. "Well, Erin, thinking is not really your thing,"

Erin rooted through the shopping bags Fritz had bought, and he looked up at him quizzically. "Where are the vitamin C tablets?"

"That's too expensive," Fritz explained. "Do you have any idea how much that stuff is?"

"Well, if we at least had a better diet-"

Fritz huffed and rolled his eyes. "Here we go again with your whining. You have no idea how good you've got it here. Running water, central air, TV, food delivered to you every week..."

"I'm sorry," Erin backed off a bit, looking away. "Nevermind, then,"

In the closet, Germaine suddenly sneezed, and Fritz looked towards the closet. "Was that Germaine?"

"She's sleeping, Fritz!" Erin said quickly. "Don't wake her,"

Fritz got up out of the chair. "Oh, I don't think she's sleeping," he dug into a package of cupcakes and pulled one out. "Hey, Germaine!" He neared the closet slowly. "I got a cupcake for you!"

Hearing this, Germaine reached for the door, but Felix grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.

"Fritz, stop it!" Erin demanded, but Fritz waved him off.

"Let me see my daughter! Jeez, Erin, you've never let me see her, not since she was born! Why is that?"

Erin tried to divert the attention away from his child and to himself. "Aren't you coming to bed?"

"In a minute,"

When Fritz began to reach for the door, Erin blurted out, "No! Come to bed!"

Fritz paused, and he let out a laugh. "Well, I guess you've won me over," he stood up and walked away from the closet. "You lie down, now,"

Felix grabbed his sister, pulling her down with him and covering her ears. "Go to sleep!" He hissed. As Germaine snuggled into her pillow, Felix pressed his eyes shut and tried to ignore the sound of the bed springs squeaking outside.

Germaine woke up a little later, only to find that her brother was sound asleep. It was all quiet, and Germaine realized just how hungry she was. She thought about the cupcakes Fritz had been offering her, and she wanted some.

Pushing herself away from her sleeping brother, Germaine got up and pushed the closet door open. Once outside, she started to head for the kitchen counter, but stopped when she saw that Fritz was sleeping beside her father. He hadn't left.

Germaine walked slowly, lifting back part of the blanket to look at the face of Fritz, or 'Papa', as Felix called him. Germaine had never had any sort of interaction with him, and she'd never been this close to him until now.

She leaned over him and studied his features, noticing how still he was when he slept. His hair was so short, too, and he had a tie, just like the men Germaine saw on TV.

As she looked Fritz over, his eyes slowly fluttered open, and he looked up at the four year old girl standing above him. He grinned at her, sitting up to beta better look at her.

"Hey, sweetie," Fritz patted the spot beside him on the bed. "Why don't you come sit on my lap?"

Before anything else could happen, Erin suddenly leapt on Fritz and pinned him down. "Don't touch her!" He yelled, and Germaine ran away screaming from the action.

Fritz wrestled his way out of Erin's grip, and he threw him down and choked him. "Don't talk to me like that! Do you understand!?"

As Fritz released the other vampire, Erin gasped, "Don't even talk to her, Fritz!"

"You ever pull something like that again, I'll kill you!" Fritz hissed, getting up and pulling his pants back up. "I make the rules, here!"

"They're my children!" Erin snapped, and Fritz quickly subdued him by slapping him rather forcefully.

"Oh, yeah!? Well, don't forget who gave them to you!"

With this statement, Fritz stormed out and slammed the door behind him. Erin lay in bed, breathing heavily. "God forgive me...God forgive me..."

In the closet, Germaine lay in her sheets in a fetal position as her brother sat up and tried to recover from the shock of the confrontation he'd just heard.

After a moment, Erin called out weakly, "Germaine?"

Slowly but surely, Germaine crept out of the closet. When Erin held out his arms to his daughter, she burst into tears.

"Daddy!" Germaine sobbed, rushing towards her father and leaping on the bed to hug him. "Daddy, I'm sorry I left the closet! I-I-I-!"

Erin just rocked her in his arms, stroking her hair. "Shh, my little princess. It's all right, now, just calm down,"

Felix walked slowly out of the closet, and he sat down on the bed beside his father. "Dad?"

"What is it, son?"

Felix swallowed thickly. "Will we be here forever?"

Erin looked down at the sobbing child in his arms, and then at his pre-teen son. He reached out and put a hand on Felix's shoulder.

"We won't be here much longer," Erin said softly. "I can just feel it,"


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15:

The Scent

That Sunday was a day that would be remembered forever.

It began as a good day for Valentine. He woke up just before sunrise, but he did not feel groggy in any way. After taking a hot shower, Valentine dressed in just his bathrobe and went outside, taking his umbrella along with him. He sat out on the small lawn outside his rental home, looking out at the lake and watching the sun rise. It was beautiful, and Valentine was grateful that he had his umbrella to keep him out of harm's way. One of the babies shifted, and he just placed his hand on the spot where he felt it, and everything seemed at peace at that moment.

However, when he went back inside, this seemingly perfect day took a turn. Once Valentine had dressed into his comfortable clothing, his phone buzzed. It was Howleen, and Valentine began to get the feeling that something wasn't right. Nevertheless, he answered the phone.

"What do you need, Howleen?"

She sounded panicked. "Is Tina with you?"

"No, why?"

Howleen made an exasperated groan. "Oh, God! I haven't seen her all morning, and she wasn't in her room!"

Valentine's heart began to race, and he tried to calm himself. "Did...did you call my mom?"

"I did!" The pitch of her voice changed in such a way that it seemed she would burst into tears. "Oh, Val, I think she ran away!"

"No," Valentine said suddenly. "She wouldn't do that. Two other girls went missing, so this can't be a coincidence,"

There was a silence, then Howleen's voice came again, shaky and full of fear. "Wha...what do we do?

"Call the police, if you haven't already," Valentine tried to sound collected, but he was screaming internally. "The professionals need to handle this,"

"Uh-huh," Howleen's voice was almost inaudible. "Yeah, I will," she then hung up.

Valentine set his phone down, trying desperately to keep himself from getting too anxious. His new medicine wasn't good at keeping his heart in check, so he needed to do it himself. He could tell that the babies were sensing his anxiety, as they were being quite active. He needed to stay calm for them, so he sat down on the couch to relax himself.

He managed to convince himself that Valentina would be all right, and that the police would find her and the others, and everything would turn out fine. However, this feeling of assurance didn't last long, for a cramp then formed itself around Valentine's abdomen, and he bit his lip as he waited for it to pass.

When it did, Valentine breathed a sigh. "Oh, come on," he rested his hand on his side. "Please don't come today. It's really not a good time,"

The phone rang again, but this time it was an unknown number. Valentine picked it up anyway, figuring it was a sale's call. "Hello?"

It quickly turned out to be something different. "We have your daughter," a deep, feminine voice said. "Do not call the police. Come to Deadly Gardens if you want to see her again,"

"Who is this!?"

"Do not ask questions. Just come," and then, the call cut out.

Valentine's hand shook as he set the phone down. He couldn't go retrieve her- he was too far along in the pregnancy for any kind of confrontation! But the more he thought about it, the more anxious he became, until finally he gave in to the challenge.

He made sure his fangs were sharp enough, he grabbed a kitchen knife and he snatched up his pepper spray. He gave the pepper spray a few test spits, and then he hooked it on his belt and slipped the knife in his pocket. Before he headed out, he got a glimpse of himself in the mirror.

"If anything happens, I hope you can forgive me," he told his babies in a quiet voice. And with that, he was out the door.

At Deadly Gardens, Frankie, Jackson, and Heath met in the parking lot to continue the search.

"What's taking Clawd and Clawdeen so long?" Jackson wondered aloud. "They're usually early,"

"They said they were picking up someone else," Heath explained. "No idea who, though,"

Just then, Clawd's car pulled into the parking lot. The door open, amd out stepped Clawd, Clawdeen, and Deuce.

"Deuce!" Heath exclaimed, running to him. "I haven't seen you in forever!"

Deuce just laughed. "It's just been eight months!"

"Just eight months?" Jackson inquired. "Do you have any idea what's been going on while you've been gone?"

"Clawd filled me in on most of it in the car," Deuce explained. "That's some scary stuff, and not the good scary either. I'm gonna try and see what I can do,"

Frankie nodded. "Thank you for that. Valentine had to drop out because of his condition, so-"

"Wait, condition?" Deuce spoke up. "What condition? Is there something wrong with him?"

There was along pause, and Clawd took Deuce aside. "He didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?" Deuce sounded anxious. "Is he okay?"

Clawd was quiet, then he took in a deep breath. "Deuce, Valentine is..."

Before anything else could be said, a shrill scream erupted from the field behind Deadly Gardens.

Running from the barn, Robin, Vixen's brother, came screaming towards the group. He collapsed beside where they were standing, and he lifted a hand to reveal a stab wound on his left side.

"Oh, God, Oh, God!" He sobbed. "You need to go- now!"

"Why!?" Clawdeen dropped down beside him. "Robin, what happened?!"

Robin wiped at his eyes with his bloody hand. "The smiling man- he got Vixen! We were in the barn, and he came at us! I tried to save her, but I think he killed her! Oh, God, he killed my sister!"

Jackson leaned down and pulled Robin up, leading him away. "I'm gonna call an ambulance. You guys look for Vixen, but be careful!"

As the others headed for the barn, the smell of blood became present in the air, and a loud whining became quite audible. Clawd pushed the heavy barn door open, and they were greeted by the sight of Vixen lying on the barn floor. Her stomach was slashed open, she was bleeding profusely, and her tears were streaming down her cheeks as she choked and sobbed.

"Vixen!" Horrified, Frankie dropped down to look at the werefox. "Oh, Vixen! Can you hear me?!"

Vixen gasped for breath, her chest heaving. "Help me!" She wheezed. "I'm dying!"

"I know, Vixen!" Frankie took her into her arms, examining the damage. "Oh, no...oh, this looks bad! Vixen, you're gonna be okay,"

"I'm scared!" Vixen sobbed, writhing in agony. "I don't wanna die!"

Frankie tried desperately to help her up. "Vixen, you won't die! Let us help you!"

Alas, it was too late. Vixen coughed up a copious amount of blood, gasped desperately, and then collapsed. Frankie bent down to look at her, and she shuddered.

"Oh, my God," Frankie covered her mouth, shaking her head. "She's dead. No, no no,"

There was a deadly silence, and Clawd took a deep breath. "Grab her, and let's go, before he comes back,"

As they carried Vixen's limp body out of the barn, Clawdeen caught a familiar scent. "Hang on," she sniffed the air. "I smell Valentina,"

"Valentina? But-" Clawd sniffed the air as well, and his eyes widened. "I smell her too! But...why?"

They lay Vixen in the grass beside the parking lot, and Clawd turned to the others. "Clawdeen and I will go look for where Valentina's scent is coming from. You stay here,"

"No!" Deuce stood up. "I'll go with you,"

Clawd was about to protest, but he gave in. "Okay, fine. We just gotta be careful,"

As they went off to the main building, Frankie sat in the grass beside Vixen's corpse and said a silent prayer for all of them.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16:

The Hidden Room

When Valentine arrived at Deadly Gardens, he was beginning to wonder if he should have gotten someone else to look for Valentina.

After leaving his car, Valentine's anxiety had skyrocketed to the point where he couldn't tell if he was about to have a heart attack or a panic attack. He made it a few feet from his car before he had to lean against a nearby railing to compose himself. His chest hurt, his back hurt, and he was beginning to have what he was sure were contractions on top of all that. However, someone spotted him before things could get too ugly.

"Valentine?!" It was Darrien, and Valentine happened to be leaning on the railing to Darrien's apartment. "What are you- oh, God!" He'd noticed Valentine's condition, and he took him inside right away. "Why are you here!? You didn't walk here, did you?"

Valentine took several deep breaths. "No, of course not. See, it's my daughter," he told Darrien everything- about what Howleen said, and the ominous phone call. Darrien just led into his living room.

"We gotta find out who's doing this!" Darrien sat down on the couch, easing Valentine down beside him. "This has gotten way out of hand. Not to worry, though, someone's coming today to help look for the girls,"

Valentine was about to ask who it was, but he was hit with an unbelievably painful cramp. Darrien, noticing the face he pulled, stood up quickly. "You're not in labor, are you!?"

"I don't- well, maybe- I don't know! This has only ever happened once,"

At this moment, Merrill walked in to see what was going on.

"Darrien! Darrien, what's going on? Who is this?"

"Mom!" Darrien stood up quickly, going to meet her. "Remember I told you about the guy who looked just like me? Well, this is him,"

Merrill took a look at Valentine, and she gasped. "Oh, my! He does look like you! And also like Emileen," she took a seat beside her guest. "And you're pregnant! You...oh, no, you don't look well at all," Merrill helped him up, leading him away. "Let's get you sitting, shall we?"

Valentine was quite taken aback by her hospitality. "Thank you so much, you're very kind,"

She took him into her room and helped him lie down on the bed. "There we go. You stay right here until someone arrives, and just call if you need something,"

"Thank you, but-"

"But nothing! You need to stay put. You seem like you're in pain, so I'll keep you relaxed as much as I can,"

As she swept out of the room, Valentine tried to say, "But my daughter-!" Yet she did not hear. He sighed, adjusted himself a bit and tried to relax.

At this moment, there was a knock at the front door, and Merrill went to answer. "More visitors? I say!" she flung the door open, and her enthusiasm shrunk into fear within seconds.

Darrien caught a glimpse of who was at the door, and he rushed into the scene before anything could go south. "Mom! Mom, I called her here," he gently pushed Merrill off to talk to Jane. "Where are the others?"

"Headed on in," Jane nodded, and she took a walkie talkie out of her sweater pocket. "Liu," she spoke into the little device. "Liu, do you copy?"

A few moments later, Liu's voice came through. "I copy,"

"How far are you? We're almost ready to begin," Jane came in and sat down at the table with Darrien. "Is Sally ready for her part?"

"She's getting her act together, and then we'll be all set," Liu explained. "It shouldn't be too much longer, now,"

"Okay," Jane removed a small pack from her tool belt. "We'll be waiting,"

As the call ended, Merrill stormed over to the table. "What is the meaning of this!? Son, this had better not be any illegal activity!"

"It isn't, Mom!" Darrien explained hastily. "We're looking for Victoria,"

Merrill relaxed a bit. "Oh, all right," she turned to Jane. "Are you a detective?"

Jane opened the small pack to reveal knives of all shapes and sizes. Darrien could almost hear the grin in her voice as she said, "I guess so,"

Up in the lobby, the wolves had tracked down part of the scent and had determined that it was leading to somewhere around that area. However, the exact location of the scent was undetermined.

"Have the police done any looking around?" Deuce inquired. "Did they find anything?"

"No," Clawdeen sighed. "That's why we're looking, too. It's a good thing Tina's a wolf, though, that means we can catch her scent easier,"

As Clawd glanced into the faculty kitchen, he quirked an eyebrow. "How come no one's here? Usually there's people working behind the desk and stuff,"

Just then, there was a knock at the door, and since no one was there to answer, Deuce opened the door. Before he could even say 'hello', a man who was maybe in his twenties came rushing in with a bloodied child in his arms.

"Help!" The man gasped, holding the girl up. "She's been wounded! I don't know what happened! She was fine one minute, and now she's bleeding!"

Clawd rushed over to take a look at the child. "Oh, my God! Is she breathing!?"

Amidst the confusion, it was Clawdeen who saw the small, brown-haired masked man creep quietly through the door. Rather than immeadlity pounce on him, she watched him silently out of the corner of her eye, waiting to see what he would do.

The masked man felt around the carpeted floor, moving without a sound as he pressed along the floor. Clawdeen crept up behind him, and when he pressed his ear against the floor, she said in a loud tone, "What are you doing!?"

The man jumped up and sprang at Clawdeen within seconds, and this drew the attention of the others. The man holding the girl gasped, and he set her on the floor and dashed over to the altercation. "Hey!" He barked, yanking the masked man off of Clawdeen. "Jack, I said 'no'!"

As Jack was pushed away, Clawdeen sat up to catch her breath. "What the Hell is happening!?" She gasped after a few moments.

The little stood up suddenly, proving that she was indeed unhurt. "It didn't work, Liu!" She exclaimed, sounding rather disappointed.

The man sighed, grabbing the girl's hand. "Okay, I guess there's no point in hiding it, now," he gestured to the girl. "Her name is Sally, and I'm Liu. I can see that you're not the staff here, so who are you?"

Clawd stepped forward. "I'm Clawd, this is my friend Deuce, and that over there is my sister, Clawdeen. We're looking for our niece, Valentina, since we just caught her scent,"

Liu nodded. "I see...well, we're looking for a girl named Victoria. She went missing a little while ago,"

As they began to discuss things, Jack quickly got bored and began to search for a door once again. This time, Sally joined in.

"The desk is right there," she pointed and turned Jack in the direction of the desk. "Maybe there's something there,"

Just as Liu was going to suggest that they look somewhere else, Jack called out, "Hey! We found a door!"

The others dashed over quickly, and they watched as Jack lifted back part of a rug behind the desk to reveal a little trap door.

"Oh, hey!" Clawdeen sniffed the air. "The scent leads down here!"

Liu pulled the door open, and a small ladder extended downwards. The group examined the entrance quietly, and Jack nudged Sally gently. "She's the smallest. She should tell us what's down there,"

This bothered Deuce greatly, but before he could express his discomfort about sending a child into an unknown area, Sally giddily leapt onto the ladder and descended into what was below.

A few moments later, she called up, "Whoa! There's a whole house down here!"

Liu grinned, moving towards the door. "That's just what I was waiting to hear,"

After everyone had made it safely into the room, they began to look around and take note of everything. It was small, but there was a kitchen, a bathroom, a living area, and another small room that had the door closed. As everyone just examined the room quietly, Clawdeen pushed the door to the small room open.

There wasn't much to see. There was a messy, unmade bed, a wooden chest, and a small closet filled with boxes of things. When Clawdeen went to investigate the boxes, she found that a lot of them were labeled, "SECRET SNACKS" and they were full of chip bags and cookies and other various treats.

Deuce took a look around the kitchen, where he found a note taped to the door. It went like this:

" _SLENDER,_

 _IF THIS HAPPENS AGAIN I'M LEAVING!_

 _STOP THROWING OUT THE TAKE-OUT FOOD I BRING HOME_

 _IF IT'S IN THE FRIDGE, THAT MEANS I'M GONNA EAT IT_

 _DON'T THROW MY FOOD OUT AGAIN!_

 _\- JEFF"_

Beneath that section of the note, someone else had written something.

 _"Keep the food in Fran's fridge, then. I dislike the smell of Chinese food greatly, and you know that. Please try to be considerate."_

Out of pure curiosity, Deuce opened the fridge, but there was nothing interesting in there, either. It was full of microwave meals and beer.

"There's really nothing to see here," Liu explained to Jane through the walkie talkie. "I mean, Jeff and Slender clearly hang out down here, but there's nothing terribly interesting,"

Upon hearing this, Darrien was struck with the memory of what Victoria had said during that brief, unsettling phone call. "The bookshelf!" He exclaimed.

Jane turned to him, a bit confused. "Bookshelf?"

"Ask if there's a bookshelf!"

After a moment, Jane spoke into the walkie-talkie once more. "Is there a bookshelf in there?"

"Yeah," Liu responded. "Why?"

"Check behind it!" Darrien leaned into the walkie talkie so he could be heard. "See if there's a door!"

Liu looked the bookshelf up and down, and then he tried to move it. It didn't budge, and Deuce and Clawd stopped what they were doing and went to help.

The bookshelf seemed lodged into place, and there seemed to be no way to move it. That is, until something caught Deuce's eye.

"This book," he muttered, reaching towards an eerily plastic-looking book titled, 'Exodus'. "It doesn't look real," he gave it a tug, and the bookshelf began to quake.

Slowly but surely, the bookshelf slid towards the right and revealed a small door. Upon seeing this, Liu leaned into the walkie-talkie rather excitedly. "There's a door back here, Jane! Should we open it?"

"Of course you should!" Jane exclaimed. "Is there a lock?"

"Nope," Liu said, grinning. "We're going in,"

He tugged the handle, and the little door swung open. Just like before, Sally ducked down and headed in. A few seconds went by, and they heard her proclaim, "Stairs! There's a long staircase, like in 'Beauty and the Beast', only brown and boring!"

"A staircase," Clawdeen muttered, her voice sounding rather far away. "Maybe...maybe it leads to..."

There was a pause, and Liu leaned down and went in. "We'll just have to see. Be careful, now. Follow me," he turned the walkie talkie back so he could speak into it. "We're headed in, Jane!"

Jack was the last to go in, and he closed the door behind him. There was no turning back, now.

 **Finished it, yay! My apologies, it's a bit of a cliffhanger. Next chapter will be out soon enough, not to worry! This story is almost at the end, and there is an estimated three or four chapters left. Stay tuned!**

 **I also just wanted to say that my activity may be slightly limited due to my new role in my school's drama. We are doing "The Anatomy Of Gray", and I am playing Rebekah Muldoon! So I may not be on as much due to practice and homework and other responsibilties.**

 **Questions, comments, or theories about this story? Let me know in your review! Feedback is very much appreciated. ^^**

 **Until next chapter, my fellow monsters!**


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17:

The Escape

The atomosphere was eerie as the group traveled down the staircase and into the hidden basement.

There were six of them: Clawdeen, Clawd, Deuce, Liu, Sally and Jack. As they arrived at the very last step, they were faced with a long hallway.

On the right side of the hallway were two doors, both of which were open. In those rooms, upon inspection, were found to be laboratories. One the left side of the hallway were two more doors, but they were big, heavy doors with keypads keeping them shut.

The keypad doors seemed slightly more intriguing, and Liu went to investigate them. Clawd and Clawdeen kept following the scent, only to find that it led straight to the second door on the left. Valentina was in one of those rooms.

Experimenting, Clawdeen punched a few numbers into the keypad, only to have an error message appear. Clawd guessed some numbers as well, but he got the same result.

As the two wolves tried to figure a way inside, Liu walked up and pulled a thin, sharp tool out of his pocket.

"Don't worry," he nudged Clawdeen out of the way so he could better see what he was doing. "I came prepared,"

As he began to drill into the keypad, Deuce wandered into one of the labs to look around.

There was what looked to be an operating table, a shelf full of chemicals and potions, and a strange tube in the corner of the room with something floating in it. As Deuce looked around at everything, he heard footsteps approaching. He turned around, seeing the masked man, or 'Eyeless Jack' as he was known.

"What's in here?" Jack asked, feeling around the room. "Anything exciting?"

"Kind of," Deuce replied, picking up a chemical bottle and looking it over. "I mean...it's pretty weird. It's this suave, fancy aparment building for vampires, but it has these labs underneath it. It's like..." He trailed off, focusing on the tube in the corner.

The thing floating in the liquid of the tube was almost...humanoid. There were arms and legs, and wispy hair floating above. As Deuce got closer and peered into the glass, he made a chilling discovery: the face of a small child.

Deuce gasped in shock, backing away. "Oh, my gods!" He looked around frantically for something heavy. "There's a little kid in that tube! I need to break them out!"

Jack felt around the counter until he found a small hammer. When he handed it to Deuce, Deuce began to feverishly bang the hammer against the tube to break the child out. After about five smacks on the glass, the tube burst open and a strange blue fluid flooded out. Deuce caught the child before the broken glass could harm them, and he removed his jacket to clean the child off.

The child, who was totally naked, was a little girl with a patch of brittle and dark hair on her small head. She looked to be about five years old.

Deuce laid her on the floor and began to desperatly press on her chest and breathe in her mouth, silently praying to every god he could think of to revive her. After three, agonizing minutes, the child began to breathe softly and open her eyes. When she looked up at Deuce, she muttered something he couldn't hear.

"What's your name, honey?" He asked gently, helping her sit up. "Can you tell me your name?"

She just stared at him for a long time, and she said in a small, quivering voice, "R-Rowan..."

It was Rowan, the daughter of Gory and Bram Deuce had heard so much about. She'd been missing for nearly eight months, but here she was: alive, but probably not well.

"Well, you're gonna be okay, Rowan!" Deuce stood up, wrapping the little girl in his jacket and holding her like an infant. "We're gonna get you home to your mom and dad,"

Back in the hallway, Liu had finished unscrewing the lock system on the door. The lock clicked, and the door slid open to reveal a small room.

There were two bunk beds right in front of the door. For a moment, it looked like no one was inside, but then someone began to stir in one of the beds.

"Is anyone in there?" Clawdeen called softly, walking in slowly. There was a pause, and Valentina emerged from underneath one of the bunk bed blankets.

"Aunt Clawdeen!" Valentina burst into tears, leaping down from the bunk bed and straight into her aunt's arms.

Clawdeen lifted her niece up, holding her close. "Oh, are you okay!? What happened?"

When Valentina just sobbed and sobbed, Clawdeen rubbed her back. "Okay, you don't have to talk about it just yet,"

At this moment, another little girl walked out from behind one of the beds. Her hair was a wreck, and she wore nothing but some sort of sheer underwear. She looked terrified as she came out, looking around with wide-eyed wonder. When Liu picked her up, he inquired, "Are you Victoria?"

She said nothing, but broke into tears and hid her face in his shoulder. After some crying, she whimpered, "Yes, I'm Victoria!"

Upon hearing this, Liu leaned into his walkie-talkie. "We found her!" He announced, very excited. "We found Victoria!"

Darrien heard this on the other end, and he began to sob. "Oh, God!" He got a hold of the walkie talkie and cried out, "Victoria! Tori, baby, it's me!"

Victoria heard her father's voice, and she began to weep even more. "Daddy! Daddy, where are you?!"

"I'm at our house, baby!" He sobbed. "I-I'm gonna see you soon, okay, honey?"

At this moment, Deuce ran up with Rowan in his arms. "Here she is!" He announced, holding her up for the others to see. "It's Rowan!"

There was a moment of joy and relief as everyone realized that this search had finally come to a close and the girls were living. As the girls were looked over, Clawd went to investigate the room they'd been in.

There were two bunk beds, a small corner with a TV, and a tiny bathroom with only a curtain for privacy rather than a door. Clawd began to feel faint as he thought about the fact that this is where two children had stayed for eight months. It was nearly unfathomable.

It was at this very time that, in the room right next door, little Germaine had been playing near the door with her toy cars. She'd been totally immersed in what she was doing until she heard some unfamiliar voices outside the door. She stopped, set down her cars and put her ear against the door. After a moment, Germaine turned to Felix, who was pouring some ceareal for himself.

"Felix," she spoke up. "There's someone outside!"

Felix quirked an eyebrow, setting the box aside. "What's that supposed to mean? Maybe it's some workers or something,"

Germaine put her ear back up against the door, and she said, "I hear...weird noises like the TV makes, and lots of talking! Someone's crying, I think,"

"What's going on?" It was Erin, their father, and he knelt down beside Germaine. "What is it, Honey?"

"There's talking outside, listen!"

Erin put his own ear against the door, and his eyes went wide. "Someone's here!" He gasped, standing up quickly. "Someone came!" He suddenly scooped Germaine up and snatched up Felix's wrist, and he began to bang on the door.

The group was just about to leave with the girls, when they heard a pounding from the door beside the one the girls had been behind.

"I think there's someone else in there!" Clawdeen pointed to the door. "Should we break them out, too?"

Liu pulled his drill out again and began to tap into that lock, just as he'd done with the other one. After five, painful minutes, the keypad beeped, and the door gave away.

Out came a slender, male vampire with a little girl clutched in his arm and a pre-teen boy at his side. As the children looked around in wide-eyed wonder, the vampire gasped out, "I've been here a very long time! Please- my name is Erin, and I need to get myself and my children out of here!"

There was a long pause as the group stared at the little family, completely dumbfounded. Finally, Liu grabbed Erin's wrist. "Well, come on, then! Let's get you out of here!"

Before long, everyone had squeezed through the small door and wound up back in the hidden room. When Liu made sure everyone was there, he got a hold of Jane again.

"We're in the next room! We've got everyone!"

On the other side of the wall, Jane and Darrien began work on opening the door. Jane pulled one of the long, sharp blades from her pack, and she cut along where the door had been painted over. When this was done, Darrien handed her a clothes hanger, which she used to pick the lock. There was a click, and she turned the handle.

All Merrill and Rowena heard from the living room was the loud shriek that rang out. Both of them jumped up and ran to where the noise had come from, only to see the door that they had been told not to open was open, and there was a group of strangers right there in the kitchen. In the center of the floor, Darrien was clutching Victoria close to him while both sobbed and sobbed.

When Merrill dropped down to examine her granddaughter as well, Jane turned to Rowena, who was in a complete state of shock. After a pause, Jane inquired, "You wouldn't mind fixing some coffee or something, would you?"


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18  
The Fight

As police cars and ambulances were pulling up to the building, Sonata held a meeting within Deadly Gardens.

It was in the hidden computer room, and Sonata was sitting at the computer desk with her pipe hanging out of her mouth, her eyes blank.

Jeff stood beside her silently, and a voice came from the computer.

"As you can see, the subjects have been broken out. Your brother has escaped as well," The distorted voice explained as the footage of the escape played over in a loop. "The police are here, too. What will we do, now?"

Sonata was completely silent, and then she stood up. "Kill them," her voice shook. "Kill those 'heroes'. They don't know what they've done," she turned to Jeff. "You go after them! Get your best knives,"

Jeff snorted. "I'd love to, ma'am, only there are police everywhere and that's sort of a problem!"

"They've never caught you before!" Sonata snapped. "And besides, Slender and Maiden will help you. Maybe Smile will assist you as well, if he's in a helpful mood. Now, go!"

Jeff obeyed, and he went off to Fran's apartment (since that's where the best knives were). However, when he opened the door, he was met with an unusual sight.

It was Raymond, and he was kneeling before the rolled up carpet from the living room. When Jeff came in, Raymond looked up with fear in his eyes.

"What the Hell is this!?" Jeff demanded to know, pulling out a knife. "Did Fran invite you?"

Raymond swallowed thickly, looking back down at the carpet. "She's dead, Jeff,"

There was a pause, and Jeff's voice suddenly shifted to shaky and quiet. "W...what?"

"Your wife is dead," Raymond explained, his hands shaking visibly. "I...I don't know what happened. I came over, and she had a bad fever. Then she just...passed on,"

Jeff suddenly seized Raymond by the hair, holding the knife to his throat. "You killed her, didn't you!?"

Raymond pressed his eyes shut, and his trembling increased. "No! I swear, I didn't! She's dead, Jeff!"

After a moment, Jeff let go of the knife. As it fell to the floor, he knelt down and picked up the body in the carpet. "If Sonata asks where I am," he began, shaking. "Just tell her I'm 'cleaning up'," and with that, he walked out the door with the rolled up carpet in his arms and shut the door behind him, leaving Raymond alone.

Jeff went out the back door and to a truck. He laid down the wrapped up body inside, and he got into the driver's side. His plan was to drive out to the lakeside without being noticed by the officers, and he would cast Fran's body into the water. Yet, this plan would soon be thwarted.

As he made a turn into a back road, there was a thump behind him. He stopped and looked in the rear view mirror, only to see that Fran had wiggled out of the carpet and was preparing to jump out of the car.

"Fuckin' bitch!" He snarled, nearly tearing off his seat belt and opening the car door.

Fran saw him get out, and she gasped. As she tumbled out of the back of the truck, he was right near her, and she knew she had to run as fast as she could and never look back.

As she ran away to where the officers were, Jeff called out to her while making chase, "Where are you gonna go!? There's no one for you!"

Just then, a sleek, black car pulled up near Fran, and the driver's door opened. Out of the car stepped a tall skeleton man in a red suit, and when Fran saw this skeleton, she ran to him and jumped in his arms.

The skeleton noticed Jeff, and he stood protectively in front of Fran.

"Jeffrey, I presume?" The skeleton began, crossing his arms. "Fran's husband? Oh, I'm sorry- I should say 'soon to be ex husband,"

Jeff said nothing and plunged the knife in the skeleton's side, only to have the skeleton pull the knife out like nothing happened.

"I'm sorry to disappoint," the skeleton laughed, the knife now in his bony hand. "See here, Jeff. My name is Itward, and my adopted daughter happens to be the woman you've been abusing over the past year. She's coming with me, whether you like it or not,"

"No!" Jeff tried to push past Itward to get to Fran, but Itward pulled out a stun gun and gave him a good shock to the neck. When Jeff yelped and collapsed, Itward laughed again.

"Pathetic! Some 'monster' you are!" He open the door and ushered Fran in the car, and a black cat leapt out. As Jeff recovered from the shock, the cat jumped on him and began to claw him up.

Jeff shrieked and tried to pry the cat from his head, and the commotion caught the attention of a few officers. One of the officers recognized him and began yelling, and the guns went off. As the hail of bullets began, the cat released Jeff and dashed back to the car, leaving Jeff to his fate.

However, Jeff ran back off to the back door, retreating back to Deadly Gardens and locking the door tightly. For good measure, he barricaded the door best he could with empty apple crates. After doing this, he headed for the lobby.

Back in Darrien's apartment, everyone was calming down and talking to the officers.

"And how long have you been missing?" An officer asked Erin, who was holding Germaine close.

"Thirteen years," Erin answered, wiping at his eyes. "Both of these children were born in captivity, but we're free now!"

As the officer went to go get someone else, Germaine whispered, "Daddy, I wanna go to bed,"

Erin nodded, resting his chin on her head. "I know. They'll find something for us, don't worry,"

In Merrill's bedroom, Valentine had slept through all the commotion, and he didn't wake up until Merrill came in to get her purse.

"Oh!" Merrill exclaimed, waking her guest. "I forgot you were still here!"

Valentine looked around, and for a moment, he couldn't where he was or why. Then he remembered.

"What happened!?" He tried to get up. "Did they find anything?"

Just then, a shriek came from the living room.

Merrill glanced out to look, and she gasped in surprise. "Oh, dear God!"

It was Jeff. He'd broken through the door to the kitchen and was now standing before everyone with a butcher knife in his hand. The moment he saw Clawdeen, he bolted towards her.

"It was you, wasn't it!?" Jeff snarled, seizing Clawdeen by the neck. "You told Fran to leave!"

Before anyone else could do anything, an officer began firing rounds at Jeff. When he let out a yell, released Clawdeen and fell to the floor, it had become quite apparent that he'd been shot.

The officer who'd hit him walked up to investigate, finding that the bullet had lodged itself in Jeff's arm. Jeff was promptly handcuffed, but he didn't stay this way for long.

There was a loud barking sound, and a large husky dog came bounding from the door. The dog tackled the officer and began to attack him, and this drew more officers to the scene.

Merrill rushed all the children into the room where Valentine was so they could avoid the fight as bullets flew everywhere and yells filled the room. It seemed to everyone else that this would be over quick, since all Jeff had was a butcher knife and the police all had guns. But everything escalated as the door burst open.

In flew two tall and faceless figures: one male, one female. They zoomed towards the officers, knocking the guns out of their hands and throwing them around like they weighed nothing. The male grabbed Jeff by the arm as if to help him escape, but he was quickly stopped by Darrien.

"You aren't going anywhere!" Darrien hissed, pulling out a pocket knife. This did not phase the faceless creature one bit, and he unleashed a tendril from his back and cooing it around Darrien's neck, beginning to squeeze.

Just then, Clawd and Clawdeen both tackled the faceless man, making him release his grip on Darrien. Before the two wolves could do too much damage, though, the female creature scooped Clawdeen up and hurled her against the wall, making her yelp sharply.

This was when things took a turn. The husky dog barked angrily when Clawdeen hit the wall, and he suddenly attacked the faceless woman's hand. The faceless man noticed this, and he shoved Clawd off of himself and went to her aide.

Everyone else just watched in stunned silence as the fight turned into the faceless man prying the dog off of the female, and once this was done, he reprimanded the husky by smacking his head.

While this was going on, Deuce noticed that Jeff was inching towards the room where the children were, preparing to break in. Deuce, without thinking twice, walked briskly up to the young man and raised a hand to his sunglasses, ready to petrify him. However, he didn't get to.

At this very moment, there was a loud, hissing pop from the TV behind where Deuce was. Deuce whirled around to see that the TV had gone completely static (it hadn't even been turned on), and a young boy seemingly slid out of the TV and onto the floor. He was soaking wet, and as he stood up, he had no eye color- just black, empty eyes.

Before Deuce could react to any of this, Jeff suddenly snatched the gorgon in a headlock and held a knife against his neck.

"You wanna play that way, snake boy?" Jeff snickered into the other's ear. "Well, maybe you should let me play my way, eh?"

Jeff, however, neglected to realize that Deuce was significantly bigger and stronger than him, and it wasn't long before Deuce acted quickly. Deuce got a hold of the smaller man, lifted him up, and threw him right down head first. When the boy who'd crawled out of the TV saw this, he let out a snarl, got down on all fours like animal, and leapt at Deuce. Jane saw this, and she snatched a scalpel out of her pack and tossed it as if it were a throwing dart in the boy's direction.

When the scalpel hit the boy right in the ribcage, he let out a cry and collapsed. Jane walked right up, getting him by the hair and hoisting him up.

"Why, Ben!" Jane laughed, as if she were talking to a friend she hadn't seen in years. "I had no idea you were here! What, is Sonata sucking your dick, too?"

Ben became very offended at this remark, and he clapped his hands around Jane's neck in attempt to strangle her. Jack quickly came to her aide, tackling Ben to the floor. As the two tussled on the floor, Jane gasped and sat up, and she saw something that she dreaded seeing.

It was Jeff, and he was cornering Liu with a knife in his hand.

" _LIU!"_ Jane sprang up, sprinting over to where the two brothers were. Just before she could stop Jeff, though, the husky (who'd transformed into some kind of hellish hound) snapped Jane's ankle between his huge teeth, stopping her.

"Long time, no see," Jeff greeted in a whisper as he closed his fingers around Liu's neck.

Liu was hyperventilating as Jeff's face neared him, and acting on impulse, he raised up his right knee and nailed Jeff right in the groin with it. Jeff yelped, releasing his grip, and Liu wriggled away and darted towards Merrill's room. Jeff saw this, and he ran after his brother.

In the room, Valentine had been reuniting with Valentina and keeping everyone else calm when Liu stumbled in. Moments later, Jeff ran in and tackled Liu, getting ready to stab him or maybe mutilate him even more.

And then, it happened.

Valentine jumped in surprise, and something fell from his pocket and onto the floor. Erin, who had been hiding in the corner, saw this and realized that what had fallen to the floor had been pepper spray. Within seconds, Erin rushed over and grabbed the spray, whirling around to Jeff and spraying him right in the eyes.

Jeff's scream was deafening, and he fell to floor in a heap of blinded confusion. Liu struggled up to his feet, letting out a yell and slamming his foot down on Jeff's face. Unable to see and unable to blink the spray from his eyes, Jeff staggered out of the room, feeling around and grabbing the faceless man by the hem on his coat, crying out, "Help me, Slender!"

No one had even seen Raymond, Itward, the cat and Fran come in, but they were quickly noticed when the shot rang out.

Slender jolted in shock when he saw the blood dripping down the nape of Jeff's neck. He looked towards the door, seeing Raymond standing there with a smoking gun in his hand. Fran let out a scream, and Jane rushed over, shouting, "Get her out of here!"

When Clawdeen ran up and quickly ushered Fran away, Jane got a hold of Jeff and lay him down on the floor. His neck had been shot, blood was gurgling out of his mouth, and he was making small, incoherent sounds as if he were trying to talk. Slender leaned down to look at him as well, and Liu had walked over as well to look. Everyone had stopped what they were doing, and Jeff became the center of attention.

Jeff coughed something out, and Liu put a hand behind his brother's head and lifted him up gently. "What is it?"

"Where's..." His body shuddered violently. "Where's...M-Mom? I...I want my Mom!"

As he continued to weep pitifully for his mother, Jane reached out and touched his face gently. "Don't worry," she said softly, pulling a knife from her pocket. "You'll be with her soon,"

"Jane, wait!" Liu stuck out a hand to stop her. "You can't...you can't kill him while he's this helpless," his voice was thick with grief. "Please, have some mercy!"

There was a pause, and Jane sighed. "Even if I wanted to help him, you know I couldn't. He can't survive a wound this bad. And besides," she lifted up the knife once more. "I refuse to show mercy to the man who never showed any mercy to begin with!" She brought the knife down and plunged it right behind Jeff's ear. He jolted for a moment, and then his body settled. Jeff had died.

As Liu covered his face and began to sob, Jane put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. Slender grabbed Jane by the collar of her shirt as if attack her, and she told him simply, "Not even you could have healed him,"

Slender stopped, and he released her. He turned and went to the door in the kitchen, going back to other room and slamming the door behind him. The faceless woman followed him, beckoning the dog, who'd transformed back into a husky and went into the room with his tail between his legs.

At this moment, someone else was heard sobbing. It was Raymond, and he was staring at the gun while weeping like he couldn't believe what he'd done. After a moment, Itward reached for him.

"My good man!" Itward said sympathetically, patting Raymond's back. "Do not weep so! You saved my dear Fran's life by killing this...dare I say 'man'? More of a beast, really! You are a hero, Raymond,"

Raymond just shook his head, lifting the gun up slowly. "No," he lifted the gun up slowly, his hands shaking. "I'm not! I'm really not!" He then shoved the gun into his mouth, squeezing the trigger and ending himself with a bang.

As everyone tried to figure out what to do after all this, Deuce looked into Merrill's room and saw Valentine.

"Valentine!?" Deuce went for him right away, looking him over in disbelief. "Are you...?"

Before Valentine could say anything, he began to feel lightheaded. He tried to stand up, but his knees buckled and he felt himself falling. The last thing he remembered before blacking out was Deuce grabbing him and shouting, "Someone help! Please, I don't know what's wrong!"


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19:

Return to Limbo

Unaware of the time or surroundings, Valentine woke up from his fainting spell.

He rolled around a bit, trying to get comfortable. Eventually, he shifted on to his stomach to get into a more comfortable position, when he made a discovery: his stomach was significantly smaller.

"My babies!" He gasped out, pushing himself up by his palms and looking around frantically. "Where are they!?" The hollow feeling in his womb, combined with not knowing where his unborn children were, was enough to drive him mad. Where had they gone?

It was at this moment that Valentine realized what exactly was beneath his hands. He rubbed his fingers around in it- it was grass. Valentine sat up in alarm, looking around to see that he'd been lying in the middle of a field. When he saw that the sky was pink with stars, he stumbled to his feet in horror.

"Oh, God," he muttered, realizing where he was. "Why am I in Limbo!?"

"Kieran!" A voice called from behind, and Valentine turned around. To his surprise, it was his old friend, Damien, and by his side was the werewolf priest, Father Flanagan.

Valentine ran to them right away, happy to see monsters he knew but terrified of what this might mean. "Damien! Flanagan! What am I doing here!? I'm not dead, am I? I can't be!"

"Relax!" Damien laughed, reaching out and patting the other vampire's shoulder. "You're not dead,"

"We summoned you through your dream," Flanagan explained. "We felt like you might want to stay awhile. It seems you're having surgery right now, but we hope not to keep you here too long," he smiled, but Valentine's fears had disappeared.

"But...what about my children? Is that what the surgery is for? Have they been born already? It seems I'm not pregnant anymore,"

Damien thought for a moment. "Well...we don't know how that works, actually. Physically, you're not here, but you're here mentally. So, maybe they're being born right now,"

Valentine still looked a little anxious, so Flanagan took his arm gently. "Come, walk with us," he said softly. "Maybe you'd like to visit our mansion?"

Hearing this, Valentine became a bit intrigued. "You have a mansion?"

"Technically, it's just for the people here hang out at," Damien continued as they headed down the valley. "There's mansions and castles everywhere in Limbo for people who died that either knew each other or lived in the same area. It's pretty cool, actually,"

They arrived at the mansion, with the tall red walls and the garden out front. Flanagan led his companions inside, closing the door behind him.

They were greeted by a young werewolf man who looked strikingly like Flanagan, but with an orange tint to his fur.

"You brought someone?" The wolf asked, sounding confused. "Three just showed up already!"

Flanagan shook his head. "No, son, he's visiting. Dustin, this is Kieran Valentine,"

Dustin turned to him and grinned, and Valentine reached out for a handshake. "Hello, Dustin. It's nice to meet you,"

Once they'd greeted each other, Flanagan gestured to Dustin. "This is my son," he explained, putting a hand on his shoulder. "He's been here his whole life,"

"But you don't..." Valentine began, and he stopped. He remembered Flanagan telling him, years before, about the child his wife miscarried. "Oh, wow. You mean...monsters can age here?"

"Oh, this is as old as I'm gonna get," Dustin shrugged. "Mom and I have been here forever, but I didn't meet dad until I was twelve," he turned to Flanagan, and they smiled at one another. After a moment, Flanagan spoke up again.

"Dustin, what was that you said earlier? About the three who just arrived?"

Dustin thought for a few seconds, then he remembered. "Oh, yeah. Mom's talking to them in the living room. There's some fox chick, a guy who won't stop crying, and this other guy who won't say anything. It's really tense in there right now, because I think they might have killed each other or something,"

Flanagan looked towards the living room, and sighed. "Goodness me," he turned to his friends. "Shall we see?"

Valentine shrugged. "Sure. If I'm having surgery right now, I'll need to pass the time wisely,"

They headed for the living room, and Dustin was right. Sitting on the sofa were Vixen and Raymond, but in the chair beside them sat a young man who was bundled up in a hoodie and had his face covered. Vixen was staring silently out the window, while Raymond was weeping profusely. Sitting in front of them in a wooden chair was a female werewolf, and she had Raymond's hand clutched in her own as she spoke softly and tried to comfort him.

"Promise," Flanagan spoke up, walking over to his wife and touching her shoulder. "How is it going?"

Promise looked up, and Valentine realized that everything he'd heard about Promise had been true. She was sometimes jokingly referred to as, "the face that launched a thousand lunatics", but that appeared to be a true statement. She had bright blue eyes and lovely golden fur, and her face was just so pleasant to look at. Promise smiled at her husband when he touched her, and she released Raymond gently.

"Aidan, dear," her voice was sweet and delicate. "They've just arrived. I'm just trying to help them make amends with each other. They seem to need it," when Raymond let out another pitiful sob, Promise turned back to him and patted his shoulder. "Poor thing," she said sympathetically. "You're all right now, all is forgiven,"

Raymond just shook his head, whimpering. "No...no, I can't be! I have sinful, sinful thoughts in me! The demons...they were in my head! They made me do bad things!"

"What did they make you do?" Flanagan asked, pulling up a nearby chair and taking a seat. "Would you mind telling us?"

Raymond wiped at his eyes, and he began his tale of woe. "I-I started hearing their voices when I was just a kid, and I told my mother. She didn't believe me. She thought I was imaging it. They told me to rape my sister, but I didn't. They told me to stab my neighbor's dog, but I didn't do that either. The demons went away for awhile, but they came back when our cousins came to visit, and..." He stopped, and his tears began to fall once more. "Their voices got loud this time, and they kept telling me to do horrible, horrible things to my little cousin. He was seven, and he was spending the night in my room. They kept saying, 'touch him, do whatever you want to him. No one will ever know'," when he broke down again, Promise squeezed his hand gently.

"Did you do it?" She asked softly.

After a moment, Raymond nodded. "Yes!" He hid his face in his hands. "I hurt him, and I felt so terrible for a long time! I told him I was sorry, years later, but he didn't talk to me. He died later," Raymond looked back up, his eyes bloodshot and full of tears. "I got married, and the demons came back. I told my wife, and she got pills for me. They helped a lot, and I felt so much better. But then..." He trailed off, and he chewed on his lip. "One night, my daughter told me that the janitor at her school touched her. I was so angry, and I didn't take my pills that night. I followed my daughter's bus to school, and I snuck in the building when no one was looking. Then I saw him in the hallway, and he was...he was doing horrible things to my daughter, just like she said he'd been. The demons told me to kill him, so I did. I went in the bathroom, tore the lid off the toilet seat, and smashed it over the janitor's head. My daughter screamed, she was so loud! I ran off before the police got there, and Sonata heard what happened and took me into her home. She hid me from the police after that,"

There was a long pause as everyone took this in. Finally, Flanagan took a deep breath. "It sounds like you have schizophrenia. Would I be right about this?"

Raymond was quiet, then he nodded. "Yes," he said softly. "My mother didn't think it was real. She thought it was just a phase,"

Flanagan sighed, and he looked almost angry. "The damage your mother did by not getting you help is irreversible. Mental illness does terrible things to one's mind," he looked down at the floor briefly. "Believe me, I know,"

Promise rubbed her husband's hand when he said this, and she turned her attention back to Raymond. "What you need to do is forgive yourself. You are not perfect- nobody is. You can't take back what you did, but you need to stop crying and forgive yourself. Maybe after that, we can find a way for you to talk to your daughter. Would you like that?"

Raymond sniffed and nodded. "I-I would. And my son, too,"

He seemed to calm down after this, and he stopped crying. Once he'd been pacified, Promise turned her attention to Vixen. "What about you? Anything you'd like to talk about?"

Vixen just sighed and crossed her arms. "I just don't understand why I had to...die! I had stuff I wanted to do! I wanted to get married, have kids, like all my friends did!" She glared over at the man in the hoodie on the chair. "But I can't. Thanks to _someone,_ "

When the man in the hoodie seemed to make himself as small as possible, Promise sighed and took Vixen's hand. "Now, come on. What's done is done, dear. There's no use in dwelling on the matter, now," Promise then reached out towards the hooded man. "Sir? Would you mind sharing your story with us?"

At this moment, Valentine realized that the man in the hoodie was Jeff. He seemed so different here, though; he was just so quiet. Jeff pulled down his hoodie to reveal his face, and he didn't look anything like the slit-mouthed and infamous killer. He was actually quite a handsome young man, but he looked terrified.

Promise just smiled sweetly at him. "You have nothing to be afraid of, love. Now, do you have any words for this lovely werefox here?"

As Vixen just continued to glare at him from the sofa, Jeff tried not to meet her gaze. "I...I..." He began after a moment. "I-I didn't mean to,"

Upon hearing this, Vixen lost her temper within seconds. "Didn't mean to!?" She sprang up from the sofa in a rage, snatching up his wrist. "You didn't mean to kill me!? You cut me wide open and left me to die! How does someone accidentally do that!?"

When Jeff recoiled back into the couch, Flanagan stood up and pulled Vixen back. "All right, all right!" When she sat back down on the couch in a huff, Promise tried again.

"Everyone just stay calm, all right?" She rubbed Jeff's shoulder gently. "Maybe you could start by apologizing to her. How does that sound?"

Jeff looked back up, and his eyes were full of tears. "I'm sorry," he whimpered piteously. "So sorry. I just couldn't stop myself,"

"Don't give me your crocodile tears," Vixen snapped bitterly, turning away. "I may not see my brother again because of you. I didn't get to say goodbye to my mom and dad, and you know what? Neither did any of your other victims!"

When Promise tried to intervene once again, Flanagan stopped her. "I don't think now is the greatest time for reconciliation, Promise. Maybe we should give it some time,"

Promise sighed. "You're right, Aidan. But first," she got Jeff's attention once more. "What's your name, child?"

"Jeff," he answered back, quietly, politely.

There was a pause, and Promise suddenly got him by the chin. "Hang on," she stared intently at his face, and after a moment, she exclaimed, "I know you! I know who you are!" She let go and headed for the stairs, calling, "Margaret! Margaret, are you there? Would you come down, please?"

Promise disappeared up the stairs, and she returned a while later with a human woman at her side. The woman was rather tall, with light brown hair and fair skin. She wore a purple sweater, and a heart-shaped locket hung around her neck. When she saw Jeff, she gasped.

"You're here!" Margaret started for him, but she stopped herself. There was a pause, and she leaned near him. "It is you, isn't it?"

When she said this, Jeff burst into tears. "Mom!" He threw his arms around her, sobbing. "I'm so sorry, Mom!"

This was apparently all Margaret needed to hear, and she wrapped him in her arms and stroked his hair while he cried. "There, there," she whispered, beginning to weep herself. "It's all right now, Jeff. I'm just happy you're the boy I remember, and not that monster," she kissed him, and he clung tightly to her and did not let go.

As this was going on, Damien got Valentine's attention. "Hey," he said softly. "You wanna go back, now?"

Valentine was quiet, then he nodded. "Yes, please. We should let them have their moment,"

Damien reached up and delicately touched the back of Valentine's neck, and everything went black.

For the second time, Valentine had to guess where he was when he woke up. This time, he recognized the soft sheets and comfortable pillows- the hospital. Valentine sat up, and the familiar, sore feeling crept along his sides.

"Okay," he grunted, lying back down. "There it is," he was still for a few more moments, and then something caught his eye. Right beside his bed was a bassinet, lined with red ribbons and black roses. A thin curtain covered the opening, preventing him from looking inside.

He pushed himself over to the edge of the bed, reaching a hand in and pulling back part of the curtain to look in. Sure enough, three little bundles lay sleeping in the soft cushion, with little caps that marked them simply as, 'A', 'B' and 'C'.

Valentine could hardly contain his excitement, and he tried to figure out which baby to greet first. He decided to meet the child labeled 'A' first.

"Hello, there!" He cooed quietly, reaching out and stroking the baby's cheek gently. "Nice to meet you," he scanned the baby, taking note of the blue swaddling blanket. "I see you're in blue. Does that mean you're a boy?"

The baby rubbed their eye and looked up, revealing a pair of reddish pink eyes that matched Valentine's. This was the breaking point, and Valentine reached in and carefully took the little one in his arms. After kissing the sweet little forehead, he laid the baby down next to him on the bed to examine them further.

When this had been done, Valentine undid the blanket a bit and took a quick peek between the legs, and he confirmed that the baby was indeed a boy. Upon seeing this, Valentine decided to take a look underneath the cap to check and see which hair the little boy had inherited. Instead of hair, there was a little patch of scales on the head with a few bumps beneath them. Valentine touched them gently, wondering if they were sensitive. They didn't seem to be, so he left the little one be and set him to the side, making sure he was comfortable.

Valentine then went to look at the other two. The second baby (marked as 'B') was a girl, and the moment he picked her up, she settled right on his shoulder and yawned sweetly. He pulled the cap back and took a look at her hair, seeing she had a thick tuft of black fuzz.

"You remind me of Anne Marie, your sister, when she was born," Valentine said softly, stroking his new daughter's back. "Oh, she's going to love you. So will everyone else," he smiled when she seemed to sigh a little, and he laid her down beside her brother to meet the next one.

With the third baby, Valentine was caught a bit off guard when he noticed that this child had a strange little eye mask covering their eyes. He was about to remove it, but then he stopped when he realized why this baby's eyes might be covered.

The baby (who was a boy, upon inspection) didn't seem to mind the mask, but he made a bit of a fuss when Valentine tried to remove his cap. When the little one began to whine, Valentine put the cap back on straight away. "Oh, I'm sorry!" He did get a glimpse of his son's hair, though- it was a dusty brown.

Valentine laid his three new babies in a row beside him on the bed, relaxing next to them and admiring them.

"Man, I guess I did a good job on you three, huh?" He let 'A' grab his finger. "You guys were totally worth it. You were worth everything," He got a good few minutes alone with them, and then the door opened. Valentine looked up, and he couldn't help but gasp in surprise at who walked in. "Deuce!"

Deuce smiled, and he walked in and shared a well-deserved kiss with Valentine, and then he looked down at the babies.

"Is that them?" He asked, his voice quivering slightly.

Valentine gave a laugh. "No, they're just random babies I found. Of course it's them, silly!" He punched Deuce's arm playfully, and Deuce pinned him down lightly to the bed and licked his neck. "Ah, no!"

Deuce got up off of him, and he turned to the three babies. "Oh, this one," he pointed to the baby with the eye mask. "Your mom wouldn't stop talking about this one. He petrified a nurse right after being born, and the entire hospital staff freaked out! I thought it was cute, though," he picked up the baby and looked him over, checking the hair like Valentine had done. "Oh, no way," he murmured after a moment.

"What?" Valentine asked, sitting up and leaning on Deuce's shoulder. "Everything all right?"

"He's got my dad's hair," Deuce answered, sounding a little upset. "Don't get me wrong- he's cuter than him, but..." He trailed off. "It's like he's back from the dead or something,"

There was a pause, and Valentine asked the question that had been bothering him for months. "Deuce? Are you and Cleo finally...over?"

The baby Deuce was holding sneezed, and Deuce just kissed the little one's forehead. "Okay," he began. "Let me explain," as he laid the baby back down, he began his story.

"I arrived at Tokyo a few days after I saw you, and I began to look for Cleo. I had no idea where she was, as she wasn't answering her phone, so it was just a needle in a haystack it this point. For about a week, I asked locals, street vendors, and employees at restaurants and hotels if they'd seen her, but they either hadn't or they couldn't communicate with me because they didn't know English. Finally, on a Wednesday, a waitress told me that Cleo was staying at a hotel in one of the busier areas, so I headed for there. However, when I got there, the desk manager told me that Cleo had refused to come out of her room and hadn't let any maids come in to clean it, and she had to be forcefully removed from the room. When this happened, she apparently started to have convulsions or something, and she was taken to the hospital. The next day, I went to the hospital, and the nurses told me that she'd had a nervous breakdown and was being treated for it," at this point in the story, Deuce stopped, and he went quiet for a few seconds. After a moment, he continued.

"They didn't believe I was her husband at first, so I had to prove it to them, by showing pictures on my phone of the two of us together. They let me see her after that, but she was heavily drugged and didn't seem to want to talk to me. I went to see her everyday, but she was still not mentally right. I felt really guilty, and that's why I didn't pick up whenever you called," Deuce looked up at Valentine, but Valentine still looked upset. "I'm really sorry about that. Anyway, I kept buying her presents and visiting her and bringing her food to try and get her to respond in some way, but she still was ignoring me. It wasn't until a couple weeks ago that I walked in and saw..." He trailed off, and he let out a laugh. "She was with a nurse. And by that I mean...the nurse was in bed with her," when Valentine still didn't seem to understand, Deuce clarified. "She'd been sleeping with her nurse. After I saw that, she and I had a long conversation, and I told her everything,"

"Was she upset?" Valentine asked nervously.

"Oh, yeah, but there wasn't really much she could do because of all the drugs she was on. They weakened her powers, you see? So all she did was try to strangle me. That's where I got this," Deuce pulled down part of his collar to reveal some deep purple marks. "Once she was done trying to murder me, we agreed to part ways, and she began focusing on getting better. But," he stopped, and he sighed. "She's taking the girls. Once she gets out of the hospital, she's taking Viper and Dusa. There's nothing I can do about it- she got custody of them,"

Deuce lowered his head a bit after saying this, and he didn't say anything. Valentine rubbed Deuce's shoulder and said softly, "You'll see them again,"

"If Cleo doesn't turn them against me, I will," Deuce mumbled, putting his arm around Valentine.

After a moment, Valentine picked up baby 'A' and began to show him to Deuce. Within next several minutes, they fussed over and looked at each baby, and Valentine gave Deuce a brief description of what had happened those past months.

"Hey," Valentine spoke up as Deuce was laying the babies back into their bassinet. "We need to name them, don't we?"

Deuce looked back in the bassinet, and he smiled. "I guess we do. It's late, we can do that tomorrow,"

He climbed into the bed with Valentine, and they cuddled up beneath the sheets and prepared for sleep.

"By the way," Deuce mumbled as he pressed himself to his vampire. "They found your dad,"

There was a pause, and Valentine sat up quickly. "What!?"

 **Ayy finished it!**

 **Not much to say here, except that the chapter after this is quite possibly going to be the last. Sorry this was so long- I had so much I wanted to write!**

 **Again, if you have any questions, comments, or theories, I'd love to hear them in your review. Until next chapter, my fellow monsters!**


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20:

What Lies Ahead

That night, Sonata was arrested. The police began investigating exactly what was going on in those labs, with the exact motive currently unknown. They did, however, happen upon the body of a vampire that was hanging by a noose in one of the rooms. The vampire was identified as Fritz, and the police first figured the death was a suicide. But then, they realized that his abdomen had been sliced open and his kidneys were missing, and a strange, black substance was found covering the light switch of the room.

While this was going on, Gory and Bram rushed to the hospital to be with their daughter. Rowan, after much examination, was found to have been injected with foreign chemicals, and she'd contracted a liver infection. It became quite clear that she and Victoria had both been experimented on (as Victoria's bloodstream was soon discovered to have been filled with strange chemicals as well), but Valentina had arrived too late to be messed with, fortunately for her.

After she'd been settled in bed, Rowan was quite responsive and cheerful despite what had happened. Gory and Bram spent that entire night with her, promising that they'd never again cast her aside or ignore her like they had in the past.

That all had happened in one night.

And then it was morning.

Erin awoke, expecting to seen the familiar, cracked white wall of his prison, but he was instead met with a TV and plate of breakfast pastries beside his bed. He looked around, and a smile came to his face.

"I'm really here," he whispered to himself. "I'm free,"

There was another bed to the left of him where Felix and Germaine lay sleeping. Erin wanted to wake them up and tell them exactly what this new freedom meant and how differently they would live, now, but he decided to let them sleep a little longer.

He got up out of bed and grabbed a croissant off the plate, walking around with it in his hand as he examined his new surroundings. Everything was so clean, so perfect, and though the sunlight was hazardous towards vampires such as himself, Erin still took a moment to gaze out of the window and down at the city below for the first time in thirteen years.

The door opened, and a nurse popped in. "Sir? Erin, sir, are you decent?"

Erin nodded, sitting back down on the bed. "Yes, ma'am,"

"All right, then," the nurse grinned. "You have a visitor. Would you like to see them?"

There was a pause, and Erin answered politely, "Yes, please,"

The nurse ducked back out, closing the door behind her. Momentarily, she returned, and Vampira was at her side.

Erin's mouth fell open when he saw her, and the nurse inquired, "Are you two old lovers?"

"No," Vampira said quickly. She looked at Erin, and answered, "He's my brother,"

"Oh!" The nurse looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry about that. Well, I'll leave you be for now,"

When she left, Vampira took a seat in the chair beside Erin's bed, and she promptly burst into tears. "Oh, God, Erin!" She sobbed, covering her face. "Erin, I had no idea!"

"Vampira," he said softly, reaching for her. "Sister, please, don't cry," he embraced her and rubbed her shoulder as she cried. "What are you so upset about?"

Vampira pulled away, wiping her eyes and sniffling. "Everything! That our silly mistake took two of our children, that you had to be banished, and now...this!" She hugged him once more, and he hugged back. After a moment, Vampira pulled away again. "Erin, how long were you...gone? I mean, locked away, rather?"

When Erin let out a long sigh, Vampira rubbed his arm. "You don't need to talk about it,"

"No, no," Erin shook his head. "You deserve to know," when she'd momentarily ceased her weeping, he began the story. "When Noseferatu banished me, I never really left. I nearly did, but Sonata stopped me from leaving and took me into her home. She seemed kind at first, but her intentions soon proved to be malicious. She shaved off all my hair and sold it to a neighbor, and then I was forced to wear rags and cover myself in soot so no one would recognize me. Having my hair cut was traumatizing, and though it did grow back," he ran a hand through his thick, dark hair, which was shoulder-length. "I felt ugly for weeks afterwards. I wasn't allowed to go outside or talk to anyone, and though I didn't fully realize it at the time, I'd become nothing more than a servant. I'll never forget the day I realized that Sonata had turned me into a slave- it was the day that she told me to sit at the back table instead of the dinner table where she and her daughters ate. When I sat down, I dropped a plate by mistake, and Sonata forced me to eat what I'd dropped off of the floor. I did it, but Eris laughed at me the whole time, and her laughter still haunts me to this day," he paused at this point, and he looked as if he would cry. He didn't, and he continued. "Years passed, but I don't know exactly how long it was. One day, we left, just without warning. We got on a boat and eventually arrived at London. And, oh, I loved London. Since we didn't know anyone, I was allowed outside. I watched stage shows, I bought clothes, I had friends, but I was still a slave to Sonata. The only silver lining to this, besides the new privileges, was that I slept in a guest house that was attached to the main house. I felt free and happy there," he trailed off, and his eyes became downcast.

"That changed when you moved again, didn't it?" Vampira spoke up, her voice gentle and soft.

"It did," Erin sighed. "When Benjamin died, we had to leave. We headed west, and Eris was suddenly in charge. Once we arrived at our destination, Eris made me work in the basement of that hotel she took over, and Sonata ignored me for the most part. The days dragged on and on, the times changed, and then suddenly Dodi presented me with a cellphone," he stopped, and he smiled, briefly. "It was my Christmas present, and I couldn't figure out how to use it. Although, learning to use it probably would have done me some good, because that Christmas Day was my last day of freedom," he choked a bit when he said this, and he tried to keep his composure. "The next morning, Sonata came and told me that her friend, Fritz, had gone through a bitter divorce with his wife and needed some help settling in at his new home at Deadly Gardens. She gave me the directions and had me walk there by myself. I thought about running away, but I was scared, and I figured I had nowhere else to go anyway. When I arrived, Fritz introduced himself and set me to work right away. I was instructed to go down to the basement through a small door and screw in another door to a little room he said he was planning on renting out. I did this, but little did I know, he'd followed me. That door was the final piece needed to trap me, and once I'd screwed it in, he snuck up behind me and knocked me out with a jar of ether. When I woke up, I was in that room,"

He broke down after saying this, and Vampira touched his hand. "Oh, Erin! It's all right, now, you're free!"

"I am," Erin nodded, wiping his eyes. "I'm free. It feels so wonderful to finally say that!"

Vampira took his hand, and they held hands for a good while. A few minutes passed, and Vampira turned to look at the two children that slept on the bed beside her. "And these children..." She began, her voice quiet. "They're...Fritz's children, aren't they?"

"Yes," Erin answered softly. "But I don't consider him their father. They're mine, and no one else's,"

Vampira nodded understandingly, studying the sleeping children without a word. Then, she spoke up, "Your daughters are very beautiful,"

Erin looked confused at this remark, but then he realized what her problem was. "Oh! No, older one is Felix, and he's a boy,"

"I'm sorry!" Vampira apologized quickly, looking rather embarrassed. "It's just...his hair is so long!"

"It's never been cut," Erin explained, reaching up and stroking his son's hair lovingly. "Never in twelve years. Germaine's never had a haircut either," When Erin rubbed Germaine's cheek with the back of his hand, Germaine's eyes opened just a crack to look at him.

Vampira smiled at the little girl, quietly sitting on the bed beside her. "Hello, there,"

Germaine saw the stranger, and she rooted into Erin's chest shyly. Erin just laughed and ran a hand through her hair. "Don't be so shy, Germaine! You're all right, dear one,"

After a moment, Germaine picked her head up and looked at her father. "Are we on another planet?" She whispered, looking around the room.

"No," Erin answered, scooping her up in his arms. "Same one, just a different part," there was a pause, and Erin's voice softened. "You're going to love it, Germaine,"

"Love what?" The child inquired in a timid voice.

Erin looked down at her, and he brought her up to look him in the eyes. "The world,"

Noon rolled around.

An old soap opera played on the TV as Valentine enjoyed a sugar cookie Deuce had bought for him. The 'B' baby, the little girl, lay sleeping in the crook of Valentine's arm while the 'A' baby was draped across his knee. Deuce sat in the chair beside the bed with 'C' in his arms, adjusting the new visor the nurse had given them.

"I was worried this visor would be uncomfortable for him," Deuce muttered, watching as the baby in his arms squirmed and stretched. "But he doesn't seem to mind,"

Valentine glanced up, taking a look at 'C'. "It's not on too tight, is it?"

Deuce shook his head. "No, I don't think so,"

"Well, he looks cute. It's strange the others don't seem to have the petrification ability," Valentine stroked 'A''s cheek with the back of his finger, watching as he turned his head and looked at him with those big, maroon eyes. "You know, they need names,"

"Hmm," Deuce held 'C' up to get a better look at him, supporting his head. "Can't we just call them 'baby', and then wait until they're old enough and let them pick their own names?"

Valentine gave a laugh. "No, it doesn't work that way, and you know that,"

Just then, the door opened, and Vampira entered very quietly. "Oh, you're awake," she smiled at her son, coming to hug him. "How are the triplets?"

"They're adorable, Mom," Valentine gave her 'B' to hold. "They're all just so lovely," As Vampira bonded with her new granddaughter, Valentine inquired, "How's Dad? Did you...talk to him?"

Vampira nodded, taking a seat beside the bed. "I did, yes. He's been through a lot, but he seems to be doing well so far. The doctors are examining him and his children at the moment,"

Valentine was rather startled to hear this. "Wait, children? He had children?"

"Yes," his mother answered with a sigh. "He had two, with his captor. And," she stopped, and she smiled. "I suppose they're your siblings, aren't they?"

When Valentine's mouth hung open in shock, Deuce spoke up, "Aren't you lucky? You got me, new kids, your dad and now new siblings all in the same day!"

"I just..." Valentine tried to recover from what he'd heard. "This is...just so much!"

There was a knock at the door, and Vampira balanced the baby she was holding in the crook of her arm and answered it. She was expecting to see the doctor, or perhaps a nurse, but she was instead met with a young vampire woman who looked almost exactly like her- just a bit younger.

The woman entered slowly, and Vampira inquired, "Who are you?"

Valentine recognized this woman right away. "Emileen! Emileen, how did you know we were here?"

Emileen turned to Vampira, and she took a deep breath. "You're...Vampira, right?" When Vampira nodded, Emileen suddenly burst into tears. After a moment, she spoke. "You're my mom, and I'm your daughter!"

Vampira's mouth fell open in astonishment, and Emileen sniffled. "Sonata just confessed it to me! She told me everything: she took Darrien and I away when we were born, and she bribed the medic to tell you that we died! It's been 1612 years, and I've gone that long without knowing you!"

There was a pause, and Vampira slowly laid the baby down in the bassinet. She turned to back to Emileen, examined her face silently, and then began to weep. "Oh, you are! You are mine!" She threw her arms around her daughter, and Emileen hugged her back.

As the two women cried together, Valentine just watched quietly. He'd waited so long for this day, and it had finally come. His broken family, the one he'd had his whole 1612 years of life, was finally being mended. It took everything he had not to just scream out with joy.

Sonata confessed to everything that night. Her entire plan was revealed: she had a bit of a 'fetish' for monsters with multiple personality disorder, as her husband was a double-minded vampire. She also worked closely with Dr. Henry Jekyll, though he never gave her the recipe for his serum for fear she'd misuse it. After his suicide years later, Sonata searched his whole laboratory, but she never could find that recipe. However, there was still a glimmer of hope: her daughter, Eris, had passed away, but had been given new life in the body of her twin, Dodilyne. Sonata now had a perfect little, double-minded toy, and she was constantly putting them through experiments to see if she could separate them. Alas, she was never able to, and when Eris died, Dodi's other half was gone. With Dodi now her own person, Sonata needed a new little doll for herself. She figured a child would be the easiest to experiment on, as their minds were still underdeveloped. The first victim was Rowan, who Sonata had paid her friend Jeff the Killer to snatch up. Rowan wasn't enough, though, so she told Slender to gather any child he thought was unloved or abused, as it was assumed that no one would miss them. The experiments didn't seem to bring forth any results, so they just continued- everyday, three times a day, to the end of foreseeable time.

Sonata underwent evaluation, but she was deemed 'too incompetent' to go on trial, and she was locked in an insane asylum. An organization known as SCP was sent to collect Slender, Smile, and any other creatures Sonata had been hiding, but when the SCP agents arrived at Deadly Gardens, there was only a note that read, "YOU WILL FIND NOTHING."

Deadly Gardens itself, however, was shut down. The residents were forced to find new homes, and the windows and doors were completely barred. It was planned to be demolished.

Vampira, overjoyed to have a whole family again, took her long lost children into her home, along with Victoria, Erin, and Erin's children. Deuce moved in as well, and the huge mansion almost seemed small with everyone there. But, they didn't mind, and all their lives became so much happier.

The triplets, the new babies, were finally named after much debate and consideration. The first baby boy, with the reddish pink eyes and the dark hair, was named Wynston. Not for any real particular reason, but Deuce had enjoyed the sound of it and no one else had opposed. The baby girl was named Jade, on account of her bright green eyes. Vampira had been insisting on the name 'Diana' (her mother's name), but soon, Jade just seemed to fit. The second little boy was the center of much of the debate, as know could figure out what to name him. Finally, Valentine exclaimed, "Well, we need to call him something!" And the little boy was dubbed 'Stone'. Not a flattering name, but the petrification of the nurse at his birth just seemed to make the name work. Wynston, Jade and Stone: three perfect babies that held as much promise as rose buds.

Four months passed.

The radio played softly as Valentine watched his four babies play on the floor in front of him. Charlie was nearly a year old now, and he loved his new siblings. He clapped his little hands and squealed as Wynston came crawling towards him, and Valentine smiled at this.

"I'm glad you like them, Charlie," Valentine said softly, stroking Charlie's head.

In the next room, Anne Marie, Valentina, and Victoria sat with Germaine and brushed her hair, admiring the length and thickness of it all. Germaine allowed them to do this, as she was quite used to it now. It was a quiet afternoon, as Vampira had gone shopping with Emileen, and Darrien and Deuce were at work. Erin was upstairs napping, and Felix had been playing on the computer up in his room.

However, Felix came down the stairs to his older brother, Valentine, and inquired, "Hey, Kieran, can I ask you something?"

Valentine smiled, turning to him. "Of course, Felix. What is it?"

"Can I get a haircut?" The boy asked, running a hand through his long hair.

There was a pause, and Valentine got up and left the room quickly. He returned shortly with a pair of scissors, a hair tie, and a towel. "Oh, I've been waiting for you to ask that!" He sat Felix down gently, tied his hair back, and placed the towel on his shoulders. "Sit still, now. I cut Anne Marie and Valentina's hair all the time,"

Felix sat patiently as his brother grasped the ponytail lightly, positioned the scissors and began to cut. The sound of the snipping was a rather satisfying noise, and in a few minutes, the marvelous, thick black hair had been cut clean off. Valentine set the scissors down, and he held up the ponytail for Felix to see.

"See it? It's so long, right?"

Felix smiled and nodded, and he reached towards the back of his head and felt at what was left. "So short, now," he murmured, and he hugged Valentine tightly. "Thank you!"

Valentine laid the pony tail down on the coffee table as he hugged his younger brother back. "You're welcome, Felix. I was happy to do it,"

There was a silence, and Felix spoke up again. "Can we...maybe not today, but sometime...can we go visit Deadly Gardens?"

"You want to go back?" Valentine asked, sounding rather surprised.

"Just for a visit," Felix shifted a little nervously. "You can say no if you want,"

A few hours later, this conversation led to a black car pulling up to the roped off and boarded up building. The car came to a stop, the doors opened, and out stepped Valentine, Darrien, Emileen, Erin, Felix and Germaine. Germaine looked up the building, and she turned to Erin.

"This isn't it," she stated, sounding a little disappointed.

"Yes, it is," Erin answered. "You've just never seen it from the outside,"

They walked a little closer, stopping at the "CRIME SCENE: DO NOT CROSS" line. Felix examined each window, asking, "Can we go in?"

"We're not allowed to," Darrien explained, his voice quiet. "I wish we could, though,"

Something farther off caught Valentine's attention, and he strayed away from his family. He walked up to the three flower wreaths that were lined up in a row near the yard, seeing that they were memorials for Raymond, Vixen and Jeff. They were very beautiful flowers, but Jeff's memorial, upon further inspection, was different from the rest, as something had been taped over the original statement written on the memorial.

Instead of something positive or uplifting, Jeff's memorial read: "JEFFERY WOODS BURNS IN HELL!"

Valentine knew this wasn't true, and he sighed sadly. He peeled back the label, only to find that there was not a written statement, but a picture of Jeffery as a child. Valentine stared for a moment, then he stood up and walked away from the wreaths slowly. If he'd stayed a moment longer, he would have seen the faceless figure staring at him from the window.

Slender watched the vampire walk off from the window, and then he closed the blinds, drawing into the darkness of the abandoned building.

It was his home, now.

 **...**

 **Yeah...that's it! That's the end!**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed! I've worked really hard on it. What did you think? Was there anything you liked or didn't like? Any questions? Let me know in your review!**

 **Now that this is FINALLY over with, I'd like to talk about the next story. The next story is crossover with HellBent Games' "WICK"! I'm super excited to write it and tell you guys the story that's been in my head for months! If you don't know Wick, I'd suggest either going on the Wiki page to read about it, or watch playthroughs on Youtube. Or, if you're willing to pay money and you're into horror, you can even buy it on Steam! Seriously, I wasn't paid to say any of this, the game is just so good!**

 **Well, until next time, my dear friends!**

 _Epilouge:_

The stars shimmered above the lonely town that night as Liu waited in the beat up pickup truck outside the restaurant. He sighed and looked out the window, watching as Jane left the restaurant with greasy, paper bags clutched in her hand. She opened the car door and sat in the passenger seat, handing Liu a bag.

"I got some burgers and steak fries for us both," she explained, buckling her seat belt. "I hope that's okay,"

"That's fine," Liu said quietly, eating a fry and backing out of the lot. "I don't know this part of town all that well. Wanna just park in the woods and eat there?"

Jane sounded a bit apprehensive. "The woods? You wanna eat in the woods?"

Liu nodded. "Yeah. Is that okay?"

"Yes, but we have to park outside the gate and we can't leave the car,"

"Why? It's just the woods,"

"These woods are different," Jane explained. "There's...some 'unmentionables', we'll call them, that we need to avoid,"

The car pulled up before the rusty red gate outside the woods, and the two passengers began to eat their food. However, it wasn't long before Liu noticed something.

"Who is that?" He asked, pointing ahead.

Jane looked up, sounding nervous. "Who!?"

"That kid in the mask,"

Farther off, behind the gate, stood a pre-teen boy in an old school uniform. He looked rather normal, except for one particular feature about him: a wooden mask that covered his face.

"Shit!" Jane exclaimed, grabbing Liu by the shoulders and shaking him rather violently. "Drive off! Drive off, quick!"

"Why!? Is he dangerous!"

"Yes! Get us out, Liu!"

The car backed out and sped off, and the boy in the mask walked slowly towards the gate. He placed his hands in the rickety gate and looked out at the car that was disappearing far off.

"And stay out," he muttered, turning and walking away.

 **(COMING SOON: THE SOUND OF SILENCE)**


End file.
